The Delaware tornado touched down in Newark between 1:05 and 1:15 p.m., carving a path 4.4 miles long and up to 175 yards wide, according to the weather service. Ring camera footage captured the moment winds tore through a neighborhood, sending trash cans and debris airborne. Resident Antonio Dalesio said he and his wife rushed to their basement as the storm hit. "It's something that I never experienced in my life," he said.

The storm damaged decks, siding, and vehicles, ripped roofs from homes, and blew out windows. At the Sonesta ES Suites Wilmington/Newark on Chapman Avenue, the hotel's sign toppled onto two cars, including a Lexus owned by a woman named April. She was working on the second floor when she heard a loud boom. "It hurts bad, and I want Lexus to know that I want a new Lexus," she said, adding that she was grateful no one was hurt. "I am grateful that I was not in the car because I did not want this to be a tragedy to my family."

Emily Schneider, who was visiting her daughter at the University of Delaware and staying at the Sonesta, was inside a nearby restaurant when the storm struck. She said she and others initially mistook the damage for a downed power line. "We didn't realize it was a tornado," she said.

In New Jersey, the tornado struck Burlington County around 4 p.m., beginning about three-quarters of a mile southwest of Old York and Borden Chesterfield roads, where a farm building's exterior walls collapsed. The storm damaged trees along Old York Road, tore a significant portion of a roof from a residence, and continued parallel to Bordentown Chesterfield Road, where it damaged a school and farm equipment, the weather service said.

The storms also brought heavy hail to Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Parkside Borough police reported about 19 inches of hail, forcing a temporary closure of Edgmont Avenue between West Forestview Road and Upland Road while crews cleared the roadway. In Brookhaven, heavy rain and hail turned a street into what appeared to be an icy river.

November tornadoes are extremely rare in the region. The average number of November tornadoes across the tri-state area is zero, according to weather service records. Only four tornadoes have been recorded in Delaware between 1810 and 2025, compared with 15 in New Jersey and 41 in Pennsylvania. The last November tornado in Delaware occurred on Nov. 16, 1989; New Jersey's most recent November twister was on Nov. 1, 2019, in Morris County; and Pennsylvania's last November tornado struck Allegheny County on Nov. 20, 2024.

The outbreak came as a line of severe thunderstorms with embedded supercells moved through the region, triggering tornado warnings in New Castle County and parts of New Jersey. The weather service said it was unclear whether the storms caused any injuries.