Hail — Rensselaer, New York

2002-06-16 · near East Greenbush, Rensselaer, New York

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms developed along an occluded frontal bounday by midday June 16. Their intensity was aided by a large cold pocket of air aloft combined with the strong June midday sunshine. As the storms approached the Hudson Valley of eastern New York, some of them became severe. Most of the reports were of hail damage. However, there two confirmed tornado touchdowns as well as one non-tornadic destructive wind report. The first of two tornados in eastern New York touched intermittenly down in the town of Florida, Montgomery County between Klapmeyer and Hartley Roads, to the southwest of Amsterdam. The path of this tornado varied between 50 and 100 yards and was approximately 3 miles long. Numerous trees were downed and there was minor damage to several houses as well as one barns. The tornado vortex then lifted back off the ground but was still visible as a funnel cloud. The vortex touched down again briefly in the town of Amsterdam, near Mcquade Road. This second path was only a quarter mile long and about 50 yards wide. Approximately 10 trees were knocked down and minor damage was reported to two homes. The top wind gusts were estimated to be around 70 mph with this tornado. A second twister, ranked as an F1 with top winds estimated around 100 mph, touched down near Pawling in Dutchess County, very close to the place a tornado had struck just two weeks before. The path of this tornado was 125 yards wide and a mile long. Damage was mostly confined to many downed and twisted trees. One tree did fall onto a garage thereby damaging it. Thunderstorm winds blew two trees down on Ravena Road in the town of Coeyamns, Albany County. Golf ball size hail (1.75 inches in diameter) was reported in Chatham while ping pong size hail (1.5 inches in diameter) was reported in the town of Stockport, Columbia County. One inch hail fell at Hopewell Junction, Dutchess County. There were additional reports of dime size hail in Schenectady, Rennselaer and Greene Counties.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5306069. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.