National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe thunderstorms moved through parts of Central New York and northeast Pennsylvania on July 18, 2011. The storms produced spotty damage to trees and power lines, and large hail. One of the storms moved over the Greater Binghamton Airport and the National Weather Service. The observing unit at the airport measured the wind speeds with this severe storm.

The Automated Surface Observing Systems or ASOS which measures several different weather elements, including wind speed, recorded a maximum gust of 68 MPH with the passage of the storm.

Date Time UTC Time EDT Wind Direction Wind Speed (MPH) Wind Gust (MPH)
07-18-2011 20:53:00 4:53 PM West Southwest 5.8 0
07-18-2011 21:53:00 5:53 PM Northwest 5.8 0
07-18-2011 22:53:00 6:53 PM North Northwest 6.9 0
07-18-2011 23:53:00 7:53 PM North 5.8 0
07-19-2011 00:53:00 8:53 PM North 5.8 0
07-19-2011 01:15:00 9:15 PM Northeast 5.8 0
07-19-2011 01:36:00 9:36 PM North Northeast 44.9 67.9
07-19-2011 01:41:00 9:41 PM South Southeast 15 67.9
07-19-2011 01:48:00 9:48 PM East 8.1 31.1
07-19-2011 01:51:00 9:51 PM Calm Calm 0
07-19-2011 01:53:00 9:53 PM Variable 3.5 0
07-19-2011 02:17:00 10:17 PM South 4.6 0
07-19-2011 02:53:00 10:53 PM Calm Calm 0
07-19-2011 03:53:00 11:53 PM Calm Calm 0

 

Below is a two panel radar display. On the right is a 0.5 Base Reflectivity, and the left is 0.5 Base Velocity from the NWS Binghamton, NY WSR-88D. This loop is from 08:45 PM EDT to 10:22 PM EDT, July 18, 2011.

Close up radar loop of storms.

At the center of each panel there is a large black dot with a red dot in the middle. This is where the radar is located. The time of each image is in the upper left corner. At 0127 UTC or 9:27 PM EDT there is a green area moving towards the radar. The radar is estimating wind speeds of 58 to 63 MPH or 50 to 55 knots towards the radar.

This is a base reflectivity radar loop from the National Weather Service radar Binghamton, NY. This loop shows thunderstorms moving across parts of central NY and northeast PA from 02:00 PM EDT (18:00 UTC) July 18, 2011 through 01:59 AM EDT July 19, 2011 (05:59 UTC).

 

For reference:

  • Severe Thunderstorm = A thunderstorm that produces a tornado, winds of at least 58 mph (50 knots), and/or hail at least 1" in diameter. Structural wind damage may imply the occurrence of a severe thunderstorm.
  • Preliminary Storm Damage Reports on a map.
  • For storm reports, please see the National Weather Service Storm Data for New York or for Pennsylvania.
  • Enhanced Fujita Tornado Scale.
  • A microburst is a convective downdraft with an affected outflow area of less than 2 1/2 miles wide and peak winds lasting less than 5 minutes. Microbursts may induce dangerous horizontal/vertical wind shears, which can adversely affect aircraft performance and cause property damage. Straight-line winds are generally any wind that is not associated with rotation, used mainly to differentiate them from tornadic winds.