Derry Township resident Courtney Thomas had just returned home from getting ice cream with her children on their last day of school when her husband, Michael Thomas Jr., rushed the family into the basement.

Still holding their ice cream cones, she and the kids hurried downstairs.

The family was avoiding an EF0 tornado, which touched down Wednesday afternoon in the McChesneytown and Loyalhanna areas of Derry Township, according to National Weather Service meteorologists. The family caught the funnel cloud on video as it swirled around the back of their property.

The tornado was the 16th one to strike this month in the service area of the National Weather Service’s Pittsburgh region, which includes Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Northern Western Virginia.

The last time the region experienced this many tornadoes was in May 1985. There were 11 that month.

Changes in wind speed or direction with height, along with a plethora of thunderstorms, have made it easier for the funnel clouds to form.

“Combining the presence of a lot of storms with the ingredients for tornadoes makes tornadoes more frequent,” said Matthew Kramer, a meteorologist with National Weather Service’s office in Moon.

Wednesday’s tornado touched down about 6:20 p.m., according to Thomas, who lives on Route 982, near Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technical Center.

“It touched down right in our backyard, right behind our trees,” Thomas said. “It ripped a big branch out of my one tree, and we had shingles that came off. We had a branch that slammed into our kitchen window and broke the outer pane of the window.

“It’s a little bit of damage, but it definitely could have been a lot worse.”

Kramer described the tornado as very brief and very weak. Its wind speeds likely reached 60 to 65 mph but no more than 70 mph, he said. No one was injured.

“As tornadoes go, this was probably among the weakest,” he said.

This story was updated May 31 to correct the location of the tornado.

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