Wawarsing, NY Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Wawarsing is lower than New York average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Wawarsing is about the same as New York average and is much lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #882
| Wawarsing, NY | 0.16 |
| New York | 0.58 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Wawarsing, NY | 0.0000 |
| New York | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #628
| Wawarsing, NY | 57.39 |
| New York | 49.25 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 3,791 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Wawarsing, NY were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 4 | Cold: | 57 | Dense Fog: | 10 | Drought: | 49 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 452 | Hail: | 555 | Heat: | 62 | Heavy Snow: | 144 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 16 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 167 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 1,721 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 6 | Winter Storm: | 104 | Winter Weather: | 136 |
| Other: | 308 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Wawarsing, NY.
Historical Earthquake Events
No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Wawarsing, NY.
No historical earthquake events found in or near Wawarsing, NY.
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 18 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Wawarsing, NY.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 0.9 | 1976-03-21 | 2 | 41°45'N / 74°20'W | 0.10 Mile | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Ulster | |
| 12.2 | 1986-07-26 | 2 | 41°36'N / 74°28'W | 0.50 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 2 | 2.5M | 0 | Ulster | |
| 19.1 | 1974-06-16 | 2 | 41°30'N / 74°30'W | 2.00 Miles | 67 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Orange | |
| 19.4 | 1961-05-09 | 2 | 41°48'N / 74°47'W | 41°50'N / 74°39'W | 6.80 Miles | 250 Yards | 0 | 4 | 2.5M | 0 | Sullivan |
| 20.2 | 2000-05-18 | 2 | 41°49'N / 73°58'W | 41°49'N / 73°58'W | 0.20 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 50K | 0 | Ulster |
| Brief Description: A strong cold front crossed eastern New York late on May 18. At the same time, very strong winds aloft moved over the area. The combination of the instability, and lift ahead of the front, spawned a line of thunderstorms. These storm tapped into the strong wind aloft, to produce the largest outbreak of severe weather across eastern New York in nearly two years. While the vast majority of damage was from thunderstorm winds, there was also some hail damage reported, along with two confirmed tornadoes. It was the first time since June 1998 that a tornado was officially confirmed in eastern New York. Thunderstorm winds knocked down large trees a powerlines at several locations in Albany, Columbia, Greene, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schoharie and Ulster counties. Dutchess county was especially hard hit. A line of strong to locally severe thunderstorms first moved into Montgomery County during the mid afternoon. Strong winds blew down large trees in Fort Plain. Then a microburst produced a swath of damage, 8 miles long, from west to east in the town of Canajoharie. The swath began at the intersection of Nestle and Clinton roads where a large barn lost its roof and two sides. Debris was blown over the adjoining house, landing inside a garage on the other side of the intersection, as well as up the road about 40 feet . A wooden silo located adjacent to the garage lost one entire side, thus collapsing inward inside the silo. The rest of the damage was mainly from snapped power poles and trees, as the path ended just west of Knauderack Creek, adjacent to Bower road. Trees and powerlines came down in Selkirk, Albany county, as well as Gilboa and Jefferson in Schoharie county. At Ballston Lake, in Saratoga county, a microburst sheared off 8 forty-foot trees at the 10 to 20 foot level. One tree damaged a house. More trees and limbs fell in Clifton Park. Another series of microbursts began in Ulster county about a mile northwest of the center of Esopus. They knocked down several clusters of trees as they neared State HIghway Route 9W, while moving in an easterly direction. Embedded within the microburst, an F1 tornado, touched down briefly to the east of Black Creek and 9W, less than a tenth of a mile south of the center of Esopus. The track of the tornado was about a quarter mile long and 25 to 50 yards wide with numerous trees pushed about 70 degrees to the left of the storm track. There was little property damage due to the tornado, but it was sighted by nearby residents. Meanwhile the series of microbursts continued across the Hudson river, into Dutchess county, blowing over over the estreme southern portion of Hydeo Park as well as the Poughkeepsie Yacht club in northern Poughkeepsie. Winds were clocked at 126 mph at the Poughkeepsie Yacht club. Several boats were overturned and damaged. A trailer was overturned. The roof was removed from the Yacht club. Damage from this microburst fanned out to a width of approximately one hundred yards, and a path length of up to a quarter of a mile. The wind overturned a car. The roof was removed from the Yacht club. Damage from this microburst fanned out to a width of approximatley 100 yards, and a path length of up to a quarter of a mile. A car was damaged by a falling tree in Hyde Park. A weaker F0 tornado, touched down in the Fairview section of the town of Poughkeepsie, about one quarter mile east of the Fairview Fire Station, on the leading edge of another microburst. The width was 25 yards, the length less than one hundred yards. Damage from the tornado was marginal, confined to downed trees and some minor structural damage to seven homes. Thunderstorm winds produced damage in many other portions of Dutchess county. Another microburst produced damage between County Route 83, just north of U.S. Highway Route 44, east to the village of Leedsville. Damage included destruction to a barn on the Bel Air farm. Many trees were down in a huge swath with this microburst. There were unconfirmed sightings of funnel clouds in this area. Many trees fell in Millbrook, which was described as a war zone. Large trees were uprooted in Clinton Corners and falling trees knocked powerlines down in Rhinebeck. In Pawling, a large tree fell on power lines, then crashed onto a car, causing extensive damage. Trees were blown across a power line, which then fell on Allyn's restaurant in the Town of Washington. Trees and poles were also blown down in the village of Fishkill. Winds were clocked to 70 mph in Stone Ridge, and 60 mph at New Paltz, both in Ulster county. Many windows were smashed or blown out of buildings at the New Paltz S.U.N.Y. campus. Trees were blown over in Ellenville. A tree fell on the mayor's car in that town, destroying it. Another tree damaged a historical home. A 60 mph wind gust was also recoreded at Kinderhook, Columbia county. Two 50-foot concrete silos of a coach barn in Gallatin, Columbia county were obliterated. A door was blown off a nearby house. In the promixity of Gallatin, a car was destroyed by a fallen tree. Huge trees fell on Schneider road in Columbia county. Many trees were snapped off their bases in East Taghkanic. Shingles from a roof were blown off in Cairo, Greene county and large trees fell on a house in and around the town of Phoenicia. A microburst uprooted many 22 to 24 inch diameter trees and snapped utility lines in the vicinity of Route 23, a few hundred yards north of the intersection of County Route 23A. Dime size hail fell at Kerhonkson, Ulster county. Pea-size hail was noted at Tivoli and Clinton corners, both located in Dutchess county. While property damage with the hail was minimized, hail took a toll on apple orchards. Many apples were partially damaged by small hail in Ulster and Dutchess counties that produced permanent indentations on the apples, making them unusable for sale. Total crop damage could easily exceed a million dollars. Lightning took the life of two horses at a farm in Ballston Lake. At the height of the storms, up to 52,000 customers, mainly in the Mid Hudson Valley region, were without power. A funnel cloud was noted by two on-duty meteorologists at the National Weather Service office at Albany. There were no human injuries or casualties, reported to the National Weather Service, in association with this large severe outbreak. | |||||||||||
| 21.5 | 1972-06-09 | 2 | 41°45'N / 74°46'W | 0.30 Mile | 40 Yards | 0 | 2 | 250K | 0 | Sullivan | |
| 25.1 | 1971-07-29 | 2 | 41°25'N / 74°08'W | 41°29'N / 74°02'W | 6.20 Miles | 83 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Orange |
| 30.0 | 1988-07-14 | 3 | 41°20'N / 74°32'W | 41°20'N / 74°28'W | 7.20 Miles | 80 Yards | 0 | 1 | 2.5M | 0 | Orange |
| 36.3 | 2009-07-29 | 2 | 41°14'N / 74°40'W | 41°18'N / 74°34'W | 7.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 800K | 200K | Sussex |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: An EF-2 tornado touched down in Wantage Township at about 248 p.m. EDT on the 29th. It was the first confirmed tornado in Sussex County since August of 1990, the first tornado of F2 or EF2 strength ever in the county since records started in 1950 and the first tornado to reach EF2 or F2 strength in New Jersey since the Manalapan tornado of May 27, 2001. The tornado remained on the ground for 6.6 miles before it crossed the border into New York State. Its maximum width was about 100 yards and its highest estimated wind speed was 120 mph. The tornado damaged thousands of trees, decimated acres of farmland and some rural property. The tornado touched down near the intersection of Route 519 and Rutgers Road, then crossed Libertyville Road, Snoyer Road and Ramsey Road, producing minor tree and limb damage along the way. More substantial damage, mainly in the form of downed trees and some minor structural damage, occurred after the tornado crossed New Jersey State Route 23 near its intersection with Unionville Road and Rose Morrow Road. The worst damage of the entire tornado occurred along Beemer Road and on the north side of New Jersey State Route 23. Substantial damage occurred to the Ricker Farm, as two barns and one silo were destroyed. Two other barns suffered severe wind damage. Some minor damage also occurred to the adjacent farmhouse. Pieces of one barn roof were found three quarters of a mile away. A two week old calf was killed by the flying debris, two others were thrown fifty feet, but not seriously hurt. Damage estimates for the Ricker farm reached as high as $500,000. Hundreds of trees were felled further north along Beemer Road, and power was out for several hours as power lines were brought down by the tornado and falling trees. The tornado weakened after it crossed Wolfpit Road and Black Dirt Road on its way into New York State. On Wolfpit Road, it ripped the porch from a home and lifted a boat and carried it one quarter of a mile away. A vineyard in the township was also damaged. The tornado crossed into Orange County, New York near Quarry Road as an EF-1. No other deaths or injuries were reported from this tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A warm front retreating to the north and a cold front approaching from the west produced strong to severe thunderstorms across New Jersey during the afternoon and early evening of the 29th. One EF-2 tornado also occurred. The wind damage and lightning resulted in about 57,000 homes and businesses in losing power. | |||||||||||
| 38.2 | 1986-10-01 | 2 | 42°17'N / 74°34'W | 0.10 Mile | 10 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Delaware | |
| 38.5 | 2003-07-21 | 2 | 42°12'N / 73°58'W | 42°13'N / 73°52'W | 1.50 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 7 | 1.0M | 0 | Greene |
| Brief Description: A large upper air trough dug across the western Great Lakes on Monday, July 21. At the surface, a deep low pressure area moved across the eastern Great Lakes, driving a warm front across eastern New York and adjacent New England. The air became very unstable in the warm air mass behind the front. The combination of the unstable air and strong wind shear aloft, produced the most significant severe outbreak of the season across the region, and the largest tornado outbreak since May 31, 1998. The first line of thunderstorms worked across the region during the afternoon hours. These produced spotty wind damage, mainly downed trees and wires across portions of Albany, Greene, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Saratoga and Schoharie Counties. Torrential rains falling in a very short interval of time caused flash flooding in the city of Schenectady. North Jay Street suddenly flooded and a woman had to be rescued from her car as it became submerged in about three feet of moving water. An even stronger line of storms moved east from central New York, into eastern New York during the evening hours. This squall line produced wind damage of its own, with spotty downed trees and wires across portions of Albany and Washington counties. Wind damage was more concentrated in Ulster and Dutchess counties. In Saugherties, Ulster County, downed trees flattened three cars. In Dutchess County, a large swath of trees were downed in the town of East Fishkill and in the town of Tivoli, a state of emergency was declared. One cell broke loose from the line, and became a supercell as it reached the Mid Hudson Valley. This storm ultimately spawned a long lived significant tornado. The twister initially touched down in southeastern Greene County, and produced a discontinous path of 17 miles in Greene County, 12.2 miles in northwestern Columbia County and 4.8 miles in southern Rensselaer County. The tornada left a swath of destruction including hundreds, if not thousands of trees uprooted and snapped away, along with lots of power and telephone wires. Many roads in each of these counties were impassable due to debris. The first confirmed touchdown was in the town of Palenville, Greene County. The tornado was ranked as F1 with a 50 yard wide path and on the ground for a half mile. An unoccupied home had its siding ripped off. Several other homes were severely damaged including a trailor. The tornado next touched downed in the hamlet of Kiskatom, in the town of Catskill, where it increased to F2 intensity and cut a path 150 yards wide and over a mile long. Several homes were destroyed along with seven injuries right off Route 32 in the Brookside Camp Grounds. Four people were trapped inside one of the trailer homes. Another lady was trapped inside a mobile home as it was lifted into the air then smashed into the ground. The woman was badly bruised but survived the ordeal. The next touchdown was in Athens with a rating of F0, and the last touchdown in Greene County was in Coaxsackie where a manufactured home was hoisted off its foundation, and had insulation pasted to the siding on the downwind side, which is typical of F1 damage. The tornado ripped across Columbia County with two touchdowns confirmed in the towns of Kinderhook, the Newtown Hook section in the town of Stuyvesant and the town of Niverville. The touchdown at Kinderhook Lake the strongest, with a ranking of F2. A barn was completely destroyed and the unfortunate farmer stated that some of his haywagons ended up in Kinderhook Lake. A garage was completely leveled and a car was tossed onto the tops of a blown-down tree. Another building had its metal roof partially peeled back. In Niverville, 11 people were given shelter as they were afraid to stay in their damaged homes. Straight-line thunderstorms produced additional tree and wire damage in the towns of Chatham, Hudson and Valatia. A state of emergency was declared throughout Columbia County. There was one injury reported by the newspaper in that county. The only hail reported with these storm took place in Stockpart, where golf ball size stones where reported. A state of emergency was declared in all of Columbia County right after the tornado past on by. The supercell and resultant tornado next touched down in the town of Nassua in Rensselaer County, near Route 20 with a rating of F1. The average width of the twister was between 75 and 100 yards and a discontinous path length of more than four miles. More homes and a garage were severly damaged but no injuries were reported. The roof on the Agway was blown off and a gazebo landed across the state highway in a pile of splintered wood. The NWS Survey team noted that the twister had multiple vortices in this area. Additional straight line damage was also noted in the same town. The last touchdowns were in the town of Schaghticoke with an F1 rating. During the height of the storms, as many as 63,000 customers were reported to have lost power in eastern New York, nearly 7,000 of those in Greene County alone. Power restoration was not completed until the following Friday. | |||||||||||
| 39.8 | 1971-07-29 | 2 | 41°23'N / 73°45'W | 41°27'N / 73°42'W | 4.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Putnam |
| 41.6 | 1989-07-10 | 2 | 41°25'N / 73°41'W | 0.50 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 5 | 25.0M | 0 | Putnam | |
| 41.6 | 2010-07-23 | 2 | 41°36'N / 75°13'W | 41°26'N / 74°58'W | 17.00 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 0 | 100K | 0K | Wayne |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This was the third and most significant tornado touch down from the storm. The damage path begins three miles northeast of Honesdale. Significant tree damage occurred. Trees fell on an attached garage on Torrey Road. Barn roofs were peeled. The tornado intensifies as it moved along Dunn Road. Trees are snapped, uprooted and thrown in what appears to be two separate paths through dense woods indicating mulit-vortex. Several structures had damage from fallen trees. A fence was pulled out of the ground and strewn in different directions. The greatest damage occurred about 4 miles east of Honesdale and 1.5 miles west of Beach Lake where Dunn Road meets Route 652. Several structures were severely damaged or destroyed including a triple-wide trailer, two barns, and a commercial auto transmission business on Route 652. Here, winds were estimated to peek in the 110 to 120 MPH range putting it at the lower end of an EF2. The tornado continued to the southeast destroying trees on the west side of Williams Pond and Mud and Open Woods Ponds and then crossing into Pike County. It moved past Wolf Lake, Teedyuskung Lake, and Fawn Lake still doing EF1 damage to trees. The path begins to narrow and oscillate between EF0 with little damage to EF1 with trees snapped and uprooted. It crosses Route 590 (twice) and the Lackawaxen River east of Rowland and appears to dissipate over State Game Lands about 2 miles northeast of Greeley. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A warm front lifted north into northeast Pennsylvania during the afternoon, putting the area into the warm and moist air mass of the warm sector, with temperatures in the mid 80s and dew points in the 70s. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the vicinity of the front in this unstable air mass. Stronger storms developed across southeast Susquehanna county, with one storm in particular developing strong rotation as it moved southeast into Wayne county. This storm went on to produce four tornadoes and other significant microburst damage as it continued southeast through Wayne and into Pike county. | |||||||||||
| 46.5 | 1989-07-10 | 4 | 42°24'N / 74°05'W | 42°23'N / 74°02'W | 5.00 Miles | 1320 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25.0M | 0 | Greene |
| 46.9 | 1998-05-31 | 3 | 41°18'N / 75°06'W | 41°14'N / 74°52'W | 20.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 2 | 1.0M | 0 | Pike |
| Brief Description: The cell that produced tornadic damage earlier both in southern Wayne county and just upstream in Promised Land State Park dropped a tornado once again across the southern and southeastern portions of Pike county. A nearly continuous 20 mile path was uncovered via aerial storm surveys from Pecks Pond east-southeastward to near route 739 in Delaware township. The average width of the damage path was about 200 yards. The twister descended once again in the Pecks Pond area around 8:20 pm EDT. At that point, the intensity was rated as F2 as the tornado cut down nearly every tree in its path on its way towards Blue Heron Lake. At approximately 8:30 pm, the tornado struck the small vacation community surrounding Blue Heron Lake. A summer home was leveled by the force of the twister. The only things left standing were an interior wall and a few sturdy metal cabinets on the floor in the kitchen. An adjacent mobile home was severely damaged as well. Two campers near this area had minor injuries from falling tree limbs. Otherwise, though, injuries were kept to a minimum as homes were mostly vacant. In addition, an estimated thousands of trees were sheared off or toppled bordering Blue Heron Lake both to the west and east. The twister's intensity increased at this point to F3. Further downstream, the tornado continued to cut a consistent path of twisted off and/or uprooted trees across the Little Mud Pond, Silver Lake, and Deer Leap Factory areas. The tornado appeared to skip across hilltop sections along this route with its intensity mainly in the F1 range. Finally, just before 8:45 pm EDT, the tornado ascended once again in Delaware township as little in the way of damage was evident between route 739 and the Delaware River. In all, emergency management and federal officials estimated that in excess of 1 million dollars damage was incurred along this approximately 20 mile path. Many roads were closed as they became impassable due to fallen trees and wires. Portions of routes 402 and 390 were closed for several days. In addition, sections of Promised Land State Park were closed off to the public for about two weeks until all debris was cleared away and power was restored. An intensifying storm system moved across upstate New York and into southern Quebec early in the morning on the 31st. This system dragged a warm front across northeastern Pennsylvania. Behind this front, a southerly flow of warm, moist, and unstable air quickly developed. This set the stage for the development of severe weather later that afternoon as a cold front and strong upper air disturbance approached. From late in the afternoon until late that evening, northeastern Pennsylvania was under siege from severe thunderstorms, including several tornadic supercells. In all, nine separate tornadoes touched down on this day. Overall damage estimates run into the millions with many homes and structures heavily damaged or destroyed. The most devastating storms occurred in Pike county. Within about a 3 hour stretch from 7 to 10 pm EDT, four different twisters affected the county. One tornadic cell was responsible for knocking down thousands of healthy large trees in and around Promised Land State Park with several vacation homes damaged or leveled. Fortunately, injuries were kept at a minimum. Widespread straight line wind damage also occurred with hailstones the size of ping pong balls falling in some places. The north side of Scranton had extensive wind damage as a storm passed through shortly before 10 pm EDT and sections of Wayne and Luzerne counties had roads closed and/or blocked from falling trees for more than 2 days after the storm. Pennsylvania Power and Light Company estimated that hundreds of thousands of customers were without power at the height of the storms on the evening of the 31st. Some of the more remote locations did not have power restored for the better part of a week. | |||||||||||
| 49.2 | 1998-05-31 | 2 | 41°22'N / 75°10'W | 41°22'N / 75°08'W | 3.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 400K | 0 | Pike |
| Brief Description: A severe thunderstorm became tornadic just south of Interstate 84 and east of Tarey Hill in Blooming Grove township around 8:20 pm EDT. The tornado cut approximately a 3 mile by 200 yard path paralleling Interstate 84. The twister moved through heavily forested areas and mowed down hundreds of trees in its path. Again, many of the trees were quite sizeable and appeared to be toppled easily. The damage pattern was circular in spots as viewed by aerial surveys. Fortunately, little in the way of houses or populated regions were in the path of this particular tornado. The tornado's intensity seemed to fluctuate between F1 and F2. The tornado lifted back up just east of route 739 near Cranberry Ridge as little in the way of damage was seen downstream of this point. Several local roads were closed for up to 24 hours from fallen trees. An intensifying storm system moved across upstate New York and into southern Quebec early in the morning on the 31st. This system dragged a warm front across northeastern Pennsylvania. Behind this front, a southerly flow of warm, moist, and unstable air quickly developed. This set the stage for the development of severe weather later that afternoon as a cold front and strong upper air disturbance approached. From late in the afternoon until late that evening, northeastern Pennsylvania was under siege from severe thunderstorms, including several tornadic supercells. In all, nine separate tornadoes touched down on this day. Overall damage estimates run into the millions with many homes and structures heavily damaged or destroyed. The most devastating storms occurred in Pike county. Within about a 3 hour stretch from 7 to 10 pm EDT, four different twisters affected the county. One tornadic cell was responsible for knocking down thousands of healthy large trees in and around Promised Land State Park with several vacation homes damaged or leveled. Fortunately, injuries were kept at a minimum. Widespread straight line wind damage also occurred with hailstones the size of ping pong balls falling in some places. The north side of Scranton had extensive wind damage as a storm passed through shortly before 10 pm EDT and sections of Wayne and Luzerne counties had roads closed and/or blocked from falling trees for more than 2 days after the storm. Pennsylvania Power and Light Company estimated that hundreds of thousands of customers were without power at the height of the storms on the evening of the 31st. Some of the more remote locations did not have power restored for the better part of a week. | |||||||||||
| 49.7 | 1998-05-31 | 3 | 42°04'N / 75°26'W | 42°05'N / 75°00'W | 30.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 1.0M | 0 | Delaware |
| Brief Description: The same tornadic supercell that moved through southern portions of Broome county crossed into Delaware county in Deposit around 6:45 pm EDT. At that point, the tornado was still quite strong and maintained an intensity of category F3. Several more homes were severely damaged as the twister moved over route 8 and areas just west of Cannonsville Reservoir. Again, large swaths of trees were cut down and hail larger than baseballs was observed. Once the cell passed on to the east across Tompkins and Colchester townships, it weakened as tornado intensity decreased to F1. Significant tree damage was seen in both ground and aerial damage surveys along hilltop areas just north and east of Cannonsville Reservoir. Hundreds of tree tops were estimated to be twisted off with several utility poles also taken out in these areas. Further east towards Downsville, tornado intensity fluctuated between F0 and F1 with most of the damage to trees along ridge tops. Fortunately, the twister skipped along sparsely populated areas for the most part. As a result, structural damage and injuries were kept to a minimum. Once the cell reached the eastern end of Pepacton Reservoir, it weakened further with the tornado apparently lifting back into the cloud base. Emergency management officials estimated damage totals approaching a million dollars. The majority of the damage occurred in Deposit. The town of Deposit was placed under a local state of emergency for several days with this area also eventually receiving federal aid. An intensifying storm system moved across upstate New York and into southern Quebec early in the morning on the 31st. This system dragged a warm front northeastward across central New York. A southerly flow of warm, moist, and unstable air quickly developed. This set the stage for severe weather that afternoon and evening as a cold front and strong upper air disturbance approached. From early in the afternoon until the evening hours, central New York was under siege from severe thunderstorms, including several tornadic supercells. In all, six separate tornadoes touched down on this day in central New York. The most devastating twister cut a discontinuous sixty plus mile track from southeastern Tioga county across southern Broome county and into Delaware county where it finally lifted back into the cloud base. This tornado alone damaged or destroyed more than 30 homes and injured nearly 20 people. Very fortunately, no fatalities occurred. Another violent tornado ripped through southern sections of Otsego county between Laurens and Milford. Thousands of trees were snapped off or uprooted with large sections of forest completely taken out. Several residences were leveled and many roads were impassable for days due to the fallen debris. The damage toll from this day's tornadoes ran into the millions. Several strong bow echo complexes also affected central New York. From southern Chenango county through the lower half of Otsego county, one such storm took out hundreds of trees and inflicted considerable structural damage in and around Oneonta. One man was killed in Oneonta when hit by a falling tree limb. Throughout Onondaga county, wind gusts estimated at 90 to 100 mph caused widespread damage early in the evening between 6:00 and 6:30 pm EDT. Two large transmission towers near Nedrow were toppled from the winds and many buildings had blown out windows and/or roof damage. Hail as large as 3 to 4 inches in diameter accompanied some of the tornadic supercells across New York's southern tier; smashing windows, severely denting cars, and causing crop losses. New York State Electric and Gas Company estimated that hundreds of thousands of customers were without power during the height of the storms late that afternoon and evening. Some of the more remote locations did not have power restored for the better part of a week. | |||||||||||
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.