At least six tornadoes touched down Thursday night with straight-line wind damage around the region.
The National Weather Service confirmed EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Hampton Township and east of West Finley. EF-0 tornadoes were confirmed in Mt. Nebo in Allegheny County and in Butler. The NWS also confirmed tornadoes in Peters Township and Hopewell Township and will survey the area Saturday to determine the strength.
Crews will also survey areas in Franklin Township and Lancaster Township.
NWS meteorologist Michael Brown says they'll look for certain signs a tornado came through.
"You might see needles sticking out of a tree a certain way," he said. "A lot of times a roof is uplifted and then pushed 100 or 200 yards downstream, if not farther in a stronger tornado. We'll be looking for patterns and tree damage."
Hampton Township appears to be among the areas hardest hit. The Hampton Township Fire Department is reporting extensive damage. There were no reported injuries.
A home on Kirk Avenue in Hampton Township was damaged from strong winds that blew the roof off of the house. Crews put tarps on the house that lost the roof. Fire officials said they responded to about 30 calls Thursday night.
Many people were without power from the storm damage in Hampton.
In Washington County the Peters Township fire chief said multiple homes were damaged from the severe weather.
According to the National Weather Service, the Pittsburgh area may double it's all-time October tornado count.
From 1950 to 2020, there have been 11 confirmed tornadoes in October. This year, there have already been nine confirmed with more likely after Thursday's storms.
The area also averages three tornadoes per year, but there are already 27 tornadoes confirmed in 2021.
Brown says that data comes with a caveat, because tornado detection methods have improved in recent years. He still believes it's significant, but it's difficult to say why the increase is happening.
"It's hard to chalk that up to anything specific," he said. "We'll have to examine the long-term trends and see if this keeps happening over the next decade. Then we might be able to say a little bit more about it. We're not sure at this point if it's a fluke or not."