EF1 tornado in Madison County, New York

Severe thunderstorms moved through the area during the mid afternoon of July 16, 2024. One of the storm cells moved through Canastota, NY producing a tornado touchdown between the Conrail railroad tracks and Barlow Street. The tornado was witnessed by town officials, residents and a video security camera on Canal Street as it moved to the east along Barlow and Railroad Streets. Severe damage occurred to multiple residences along Barlow Street with significant loss of roofs and roofing material as well as blowing out garage doors and windows. Two sheds were destroyed and multiple large diameter tree trunks and limbs were snapped. An 82 year old male

succumbed to injuries sustained while he was outside as the tornado crossed Main

Street. The tornado continued down Center Street causing further damage to trees,

roofs and a few power poles. The tornado veered slightly to the northeast crossing

the Old Erie Canal, causing additional tree damage and tearing a metal roof off of

a pole bar along Canal Road. It then weakened and dissipated before striking a solar

farm which sustained nearly no damage. The damage found along most of the tornado track was consistent with maximum wind speeds around 100 mph which is within the EF-1 category of the Enhanced Fujita scale.

An upper-level wave moved through the Great Lakes region and brought numerous storms to Central New York, making it one of the more active days in July. Strong instability and shear lead to a severe weather outbreak across the region. A few storms became tornadic. The most notable tornado was a high end EF-2 that went through Rome, NY and led to significant damage. Fortunately, no fatalities occurred with this storm. However, there was one fatality in Canastota when a man was trying to protect his old car while a storm with an EF-1 tornado was passing through. Multiple other storms had damaging wind gusts that lead to widespread damage across the region.