Tornado touches down in Forestport, winds reach 80 MPH

Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch
·2 min read

The National Weather Service in Binghamton issued 21 tornado warnings, and one confirmed touchdown in Forestport — so far.

Joanne LaBounty, observation program leader at the National Weather Service station in Binghamton, said she couldn’t speak for the other locations like Albany and Buffalo, but knows that they had 21 tornado warnings go out.

“And so far, at least, we’ve had one tornado in Oneida County,” she said. “It was an EF0 with 80 MPH winds.”

LaBounty added that there weren’t any more details about the tornado in Forestport because it still needs to be studied and will take a while “...because the office is backed up.” With how many warnings went out and reported damage across the state, National Weather Services are out in force taking measurements and recording data to determine what was and what wasn’t a tornado.

And with how many warnings went out, it will take a while.

Storm clouds continued to move through the East Eden area as residents cleaned up after a tornado touched down on East Eden Road. Debris was scattered on a field nearby on Schientzius Road.
Storm clouds continued to move through the East Eden area as residents cleaned up after a tornado touched down on East Eden Road. Debris was scattered on a field nearby on Schientzius Road.

LaBounty said she believes this could be the most tornado warnings the state has had at once, eclipsing the May 31, 1998 severe weather outbreak that resulted in an F3 tornado — however, she couldn’t confirm.

According to a natural disaster survey report by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the May 31, 1998 Eastern New York and Western New England tornado and severe weather outbreak, “...the 48 warnings issued for this event were the most issued by this office for any single event in the last 20 years.”

Extreme warnings

Even though some of those warnings were for the New England area, the amount of tornado warnings for the area is still extreme.

LaBounty said this amount of tornado warnings is uncommon, considering New York State averages “...a few per year.”

Also on Wednesday, a tornado touched down in Erie County and another in Chautauqua County, with the latter being rated as an EF1.

More tornadoes are being reported and others are being confirmed across the state, with Forestport now added to the list. When asked about how this could happen, LaBounty pointed the finger at the recent tropical storm.

“We had a lot of humidity and moisture in the air, with wind already in place," LaBounty said. "Then, a front came through. All those things came together."

Information from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle was used in this report.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Tornado touches down in Forestport reaching 80 MPH winds