Thunderstorm Wind — Yates, New York

2023-04-05 · near Milo Center, Yates, New York

Event narrative

First location surveyed was a horse barn with the north side open and it looked like the building was perfectly exposed to the strong winds from the north-northwest to blow the building apart with debris spread to a 155 to 160 degree direction. Looking at post in the ground the mud was soft and waterlogged so it likely did not take as much force to destroy the building so a lower wind estimate was used at 80 mph.

To the west along City Hill Road there were several medium to large pines that had

either been snapped or uprooted also in a 155 to 160 degree direction. Many of the uprooted trees had a shallow root ball and the hole left by the root ball in the ground was filled with water. To the north along Ridge Road, power poles were either tilting or snapped. The power poles were thinner and older so a lower wind estimate was used resulting in the 85 mph rating.

Multiple pine trees were also snapped or uprooted at several homes along Ridge Road as well, falling in the 155 to 160 degree direction as well. One home had a chimney that toppled over. Talking to a couple home owners that were home at the time of the

microburst, the stories matched up with strong winds and heavy rain occurring at the same time resulting in white out conditions similar to a blizzard. The stories as well as all the damage and fallen trees leaning in the same direction away from the core of

the storm on radar at the time of the damage means that this was likely a microburst. The Penn Yan Mesonet station from the NYS mesonet system was on the very edge of the microburst and recorded a gust of 62 mph.

Wider weather episode

A strong disturbance triggered showers and thunderstorms over west-central NY including Yates and Cayuga counties. One of the storms became severe and produced an 85 mph microburst in the vicinity of Penn Yan. Damage from this microburst included a destroyed barn and several snapped/fallen trees.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.6600, -77.0000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1086746. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.