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EF0 tornado in Cattaraugus County, New York

Tornado April 15, 2026 · Cattaraugus County, New York

EF0

Rating

0.2 mi

Path length

55 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 55 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

The National Weather Service in Buffalo investigated storm-related damage from a rotating thunderstorm within a line of storms that affected the area southeast of Machias in Cattaraugus County on April 15th. The National Weather Service storm survey team investigated the damage in the area and confirmed damage consistent with an EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 75 mph.

Several trees uprooted in multiple directions shortly after the intersection of Tug Hill Road and Gulf Hill Road. Primary residence had a window blown in the upper most story of the house, with a secondary residence loosing a few roof shingles.

The wider storm

On the evening of April 15th, a line of thunderstorms tracking east over Lake Erie intensified as they tracked onshore into northwestern Pennsylvania, Chautauqua County and Southern Erie County. As the storms continued east they became severe, causing two tornadoes in Cattaraugus County along with damaging wind gusts across a large chunk of the Western Southern Tier. The thunderstorms were associated with a Mesoscale Convective Vortex, that per usual for these types of setups, had plenty of shear to support the development of a tornado or two. Due to the lower instability values along with showers and increased cloud cover ahead of and behind the primary line, additional thunderstorms weren't able to develop.

Began near Bird (42.3910, -78.5130).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF0 Cattaraugus County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1318950. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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