Strong Wind — Eastern Essex, New York

2024-01-10 · Eastern Essex, New York

Event narrative

Various mesonet sites reported wind gusts between 40 and 50 mph with some isolated small limb damage. In addition 2 to 4 inches of wet snow preceded the wind event.

Wider weather episode

A powerful winter storm entered the Pacific NW on January 6th and then traversed the southern Plains on January 8th before moving into the Great Lakes on January 9th-10th. Central pressure fell to 972mb across the eastern Great Lakes during the early morning hours of January 10th, meanwhile a 1026mb area of high pressure was across eastern Quebec/Nova Scotia.

This creating a > 50mb pressure gradient between both systems which created a strong southeast low-level jet of 85-100 mph across much of the northeast including NY and VT.

Downsloping southeast winds gusted to over 60 mph in some locations across northern NY that resulted in downed tree limbs, powerlines and approximately 15,000 power outages. Several inches of wet snow started the event with localized more than 6 inches across the higher terrain of the eastern Adirondacks.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1147075. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.