16 Separate Tornadoes Pummeled Upstate New York In Just One Week
According to New York Upstate, 16 separate tornadoes have hammered upstate New York in just seven days, the most on record since official tornado records began in 1950. The previous record was 13 in July of 1992, according to data from the National Weather Service.
The publisher writes that the tornadoes were split into two waves: seven hit on Wednesday, July 10th, and nine more hit on Monday, July 15th and Tuesday, July 16th. They touched down as far southwest as Chautauqua County to the edge of the High Peaks in the Adirondacks.
Of the 16, the most powerful one was an EF-2 tornado that brought winds of 135 mph to Rome, Oneida County on Tuesday. It traveled through the city for more than five miles, destroying two church steeples and a brick wall sporting an iconic mural.
Beyond the tornadoes, four microbursts, or intense gusts of straight, downward winds, also blew through upstate New York, the strongest of which blew gusts of wind at speeds of 100 mph through Schuyler County on Tuesday.
An 82-year-old man was struck by debris Tuesday in the Madison County village of Canastota, accounting for the only fatality from any of the tornadoes.
According to New York Upstate, Mark Pellerito, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Binghamton office, stated:
It’s not the wind that hurts and kills people and causes damage — it’s the stuff that blows or trees falling down on houses or on people or on cars. Whether it’s going in a straight line or a tornado, you’re talking about the same type of damage.
On Saturday, July 20th, Governor Kathy Hochul announced her request for recovery operations in 15 different counties: Chemung, Genesee, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oswego, Oneida, Ontario, Saratoga, Schuyler, Steuben and Warren.
The Emergency Declaration would “authorize FEMA to provide reimbursement for debris removal operations, emergency protective measures like search and rescue operations, and actions to eliminate or reduce immediate threats of significant additional damage to critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water control facilities and utilities,” reads a press releaswe.
Hochul stated:
After extreme weather struck parts of our state midweek, I’m requesting a federal Emergency Declaration to support our recovery efforts and provide assistance to families and businesses. We must give our communities the support they need to recover, and I will do everything in my power to get New Yorkers the resources they need.
According to data collected over the last three decades from the Weather Service, New York typically averages nine tornados per year, though AccuWeather meteorologist Guy Pearson says that July is the most common month for tornadoes in the northern U.S. due to the season’s peak of heat and humidity.
The full database of tornadoes in New York can be seen here.
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