Thunderstorm Wind — Onondaga, New York

1998-05-29 · near Cicero, Onondaga, New York

Event narrative

A line of thunderstorms became severe as it crossed northern sections of the county close to 1:30 pm EDT. Numerous trees and wires were downed across northern and eastern sections of the Syracuse metropolitan area. One man in Cicero was injured when he was shocked from falling wires. In Syracuse, another man was struck and killed by a large tree limb on the corner of Congress and Holland Streets.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front plowed into a moist unstable environment across central New York during the afternoon of the 29th. The result was organized severe thunderstorm activity in the form of several bow echoes and squall lines. A line of severe thunderstorms first entered the northern Finger Lakes region shortly before 130 pm EDT. A fatality occurred in Syracuse as this line of storms passed through. A man was struck by a large tree limb while out walking. Many large trees and power lines littered streets in northern and eastern portions of the Syracuse metropolitan area in the wake of the thunderstorms. This same line of storms also grew back to the west and southwest and produced large hail to one inch in diameter across Cayuga and Seneca counties. Later that afternoon, the line of severe thunderstorms maintained its intensity and interacted with smaller line echo wave pattern features to produce a solid axis of damaging thunderstorms across New York's southern tier and the Catskills. An area from northern Broome county to southern Chenango county and into Otsego county likely sustained the most damage. Wind gusts estimated at close to 90 mph toppled trees and power lines in their path. Many roads were closed for a time in the Plymouth and Oxford areas of Chenango county due to fallen trees. By 530 pm EDT, the severe thunderstorms had moved either into the eastern Catskills or northeastern Pennsylvania.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.1800, -76.1200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5650004. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.