SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — People who live on Cooper Road in Slippery Rock knew the storm that rolled in Sunday evening was bad. They were surprised to find out it was, in fact, a tornado.
“Yeah, kind of I was, you know, because I mean we’ve had some bad winds and stuff before but nothing like that one. That was pretty bad,” said Walter Dittmer.
He was home when the storm rolled through.
“We were having a birthday party for me! Some birthday party!” he said.
They spent about 20 minutes in the basement, and then his wife told him the cherry tree in their front yard was gone.
“I said, ‘What do you mean? Where’s the cherry tree? And then I looked out and thought, ‘It’s gone!” Dittmer said.
His neighbors had even more trees down. One hit the house, causing damage to the roof.
“We heard this big boom. I was hoping we wouldn’t die, and I was like praying and shaking,” said Lainey Marree.
The National Weather Service said this tornado was an EF-1 with wind speeds reaching 90 to 95 miles per hour.
It was one of two tornadoes in Butler County on Sunday evening.
RELATED COVERAGE >>> 2 tornadoes moved through Butler County during Sunday storms
The National Weather Service also confirmed an EF-0 tornado along Muddy Creek Drive near the intersection with Route 8 with wind speeds around 80 miles per hour.
It marks 11 tornadoes in the region this season covered by the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
“On average, our area sees between four to six tornadoes every season,” said NWS Meteorologist Fred McMullen. “We’re already double that already. Thankfully, we’ve had a lot of weak and short-track tornadoes.”
Despite the high number of tornadoes so far, the National Weather Service said it’s hard to determine if it’s a trend.
“We’re in a weak El Niño, so it’s hard to tie long-term weather patterns to very small weather systems,” McMullen said.
While the cleanup continues, people on Cooper Road are just glad they’re all okay - and that they listened to the warning!
“Sometimes you get them and you’re just like, eh, it’s just a watch,” said Marree’s mom, Melissa Marree. “But I’m glad once we saw the warning and the phones went off, we all dove for cover.”
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