During this particular time of year, the grip of winter’s cold typically remains strong. However, on February 24, 2016, an event occurred that deviated from the late February norm in certain regions. Fueled by an unusual combination of record warmth and humidity for the month of February, stretching as far north as Maine, a potent storm system swept across the Eastern United States, giving rise to a series of severe thunderstorms spanning from Florida to the Carolinas and reaching all the way to New England.
Among the significant outcomes of this weather anomaly were two tornadoes that touched down in Pennsylvania – one in Bradford County and an EF2 tornado in Lancaster County. Prior to this event, only one other tornado had been recorded in the month of February in Pennsylvania since 1950. The Lancaster County tornado marked the first instance of a powerful February tornado in modern Pennsylvania records.
Virginia also witnessed historically unusual weather phenomena during this period, experiencing its first deadly tornadoes on record for the month of February. A pair of tornadoes wreaked havoc in Appomattox County, resulting in one fatality, and Waverly, where three lives were tragically lost.
Even parts of New England were not spared from the severity of the storms, with Massachusetts experiencing wind gusts of up to 83 mph and Penobscot County in Maine being struck by damaging thunderstorm winds. Notably, it had been almost two decades since the last February severe thunderstorm watch had been issued for New England by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.
This episode was part of a larger two-day outbreak that saw a total of 65 tornadoes and over 500 reports of severe weather across the Deep South and East from February 23-24. Tragically, seven individuals lost their lives due to the tornadoes, while 136 sustained injuries.
This event serves as a sobering reminder that severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can occur unexpectedly and in diverse locations whenever the conditions are conducive, irrespective of the time of year. Jonathan Erdman, a seasoned meteorologist at weather.com with over two decades of experience covering national and international weather events, finds extreme and peculiar weather phenomena to be particularly intriguing. For more insights and updates, you can connect with him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.
