13 PA Counties Among Most At Risk For Tornado Damage Nationwide

Thirteen Pennsylvania counties are ranked among those that are most at risk for tornado damage across the nation, according to a recent ranking from Home Gnome.

The home services website analyzed nearly 950 counties that had moderate to very high tornado risk per the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Home Gnome considered factors including tornado frequency, anticipated annual losses, home age and whether building codes accounted for tornado resilience when determining the rankings.

Among those in Pennsylvania that are among the top 950 counties in the nation most at risk are:

• Philadelphia (90)
• Montgomery (242)
• Delaware (310)
• Allegheny (370)
• Bucks (373)
• Chester (410)
• Berks (434)
• Lehigh (551)
• Northampton (728)
• Dauphin (730)
• Lancaster (743)
• Luzerne (766)
• Lebanon (930)

At least four tornadoes were confirmed in Pennsylvania in 2024, including one in Schuylkill County that damaged homes and windows at the local elementary school. Tornadoes were also confirmed in Harrisburg, Roaring Spring, and Somerset County in 2024.

“Tornadoes actually form from the ground up, not from the cloud down,” Jana Houser, associate professor of meteorology at The Ohio State University, said in a Home Gnome news release. “Cities and hills offer no protection, and tornadoes can strike anywhere.”

A section in America’s central region known as Tornado Alley sees the most activity, according to the website, which noted Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas average among the highest tornado counts nationwide, per the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

Coming in second in the ranking behind Cook County is St. Louis City in Missouri, followed by Jackson County, also in Missouri. The only other Illinois county in the top 10 is DuPage County, which ranked 10th.