Flash Flood — Erie, New York

2024-08-05 · near Tonawanda, Erie, New York

Event narrative

Several cars trapped in high water on Delaware Avenue under an underpass. Near Knoche Road.

Wider weather episode

A cold front slowly dropping south across Lake Ontario stalled near/along the south shore of Lake Ontario. As the front approached the Western New York area, shear and instability increased. The front stalled a bit farther north than expected, causing more of the thunderstorm activity to develop over the Niagara Frontier.

A tornado began at the shore of the Niagara River and tracked from near the south end of LaSalle Park into downtown Buffalo for approximately 1.4 miles. The tornado developed within a thunderstorm along converging lake boundaries from both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Heavy rainfall with some of the thunderstorms did result in Flash Flooding as well.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.9963, -78.8758)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1211624. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.