High Wind — Northern Cayuga, New York

2019-02-25 · Northern Cayuga, New York

Event narrative

Many reports were received of trees and wires down throughout the county causing substantial structural damage to homes and businesses. Thousands were reported without power.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure over the central Plains rapidly deepened as it moved into the central Great Lakes, ending up as a 970 mb low over western Quebec. A strong cold front trailing the low sliced through western New York trailing it and ushering in very gusty winds. The track of the strong surface low was a classic high wind track for our region. Strong cold advection and subsidence behind the cold front allowed post-frontal winds to mix down to the surface, and the 1.5 PVU surface descending down to at least 500 mb, indicative of steepening lapse rates. The wind aloft was extremely strong with 70-80 knots just off the deck. In addition, ice pushes off of the frozen Lake Erie lead to substantial pushing inland of ice on the Lake Erie shore as well as ice intrusion over the Buffalo ice boom. This resulted in ice jams on the Niagara River and flash flooding in Grand Island as a result. As colder air moved in behind it, lake effect snow developed east of the lakes with the best fetch for intense snow bands combined with wind resulting in blizzard conditions east of Lake Ontario. Selected peak wind gusts included 80 mph at Oswego, 74 mph at Niagara Falls International Airport, 69 mph at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, 69 mph in Batavia, 74 mph in Dunkirk, 66 mph at Rochester, 60 mph at Fort Drum, and 59 mph in Orchard Park. Damage was reported in every county in the forecast area from the wind. Snow totals in the lake effect wind storm induced blizzard included 10 inches in Redfield, 7.4 inches in Fulton, and 7 inches in Constableville.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 809126. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.