EF1 Tornado — Chemung, New York

2012-07-26 · near Hendy Creek, Chemung, New York

Event narrative

A tornado touched down west of Elmira near Miracle Lane off of Route 352. It traveled through west Elmira and into downtown Elmira along Church Street. It fell hundreds of trees. Some trees smashed cars, homes, and porches. It was amazing no one was injured or killed. The damage path widened while in downtown Elmira between Route 14 and Route 17. Then the tornado turned towards the southeast and traveled in a path near Jerusalem Hill Road. It lifted near the intersection of Jerusalem Hill Road and Monkey Run Road.

Wider weather episode

On the afternoon of July 26th, a significant severe weather event impacted portions of the Binghamton, NY forecast area. By the late morning/early afternoon, a warm front had lifted north through the region placing much of the Binghamton forecast area in a moderately unstable airmass. Aloft, multiple approaching upper-level shortwave troughs approached the region from the central Great Lakes during the early afternoon hours which provided the initial forcing for thunderstorm development. Also, a punch of mid-level dry air helped create mid-level convective instability along with a favorable setup for strong damaging winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.0950, -76.9210)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 400671. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.