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EF1 tornado in Chenango County, New York

Tornado July 15, 2024 · Chenango County, New York

EF1
Rating
8.7 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
$120K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A line of severe thunderstorms quickly surged through in late afternoon with a bow echo radar signature to produce damaging winds for much of the area, but a higher end embedded EF1 tornado managed to spin up at a kink in the line where strong rotation was indicated on radar. The tornado took a meandering path through rugged terrain, with discontinuous damage at times from apparent skipping. The first tornadic damage began around Upham Road near Lane Hill in Lincklaen State Forest, and

crossed Hyer and Neal Roads as well. The tornado intensified to higher end EF1 when it reached an exposed ridge along Joe Road, with hundreds of uprooted and snapped large softwood trees in a swath over 200 yards wide. Tree snaps and uproots continued across County Road 13 and then somewhat intensified on the exposed higher elevation of Ridge Road while climbing into Bucks Brook State Forest, before finally dropping into the Otselic Valley to cause additional trunk snaps and uproots. A barn was partially

collapsed, with roof displaced, in Otselic Center. Other structures had minor roofing or window damage from Otselic Center, up Highway 26, to the tornado path ending along Route 80 in Otselic itself where a carport was also lofted. Other pockets of damage such as in Crumb Hill as well as towards South Otselic were more consistent with downbursts from the severe line of thunderstorms.

The wider storm

A mesoscale convective system (MCS) and an upper-level wave moved through the region triggering widespread showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. These features moved into a high instability environment with sufficient shear in place and plenty of moisture, resulting in a ripe environment for a severe weather outbreak. Damaging wind gusts were the main concern though some storms also had tornadoes. Widespread tree and wire damage occurred across Central New York with two microbursts and two tornadoes surveyed making it one of the most active days of the month.

Began near Lincklaen (42.6549, -75.8374).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1203127. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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