Severe Storms July 23-24, 2012

EF1 Tornado near Rome in Oneida County NY
Wind Damage near Whitesboro in Oneida County NY

Tornado confirmed near Rome in Oneida County New York

Location: Rome in Oneida County New York
Date: July 24, 2012
Estimated time: 12:02 AM EDT
Maximum ef-scale rating: EF1
Estimated maximum wind speed: 110 mph
Maximum path width: 120 yards
Path length: 0.2 miles
Beginning lat/lon: 43.19n / 75.48 w
Ending lat/lon: 43.17n / 75.45 w
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Summary

The National Weather Service in Binghamton, NY has confirmed a tornado near Rome in Oneida County New York on July 24, 2012.

A small tornado developed along a line of thunderstorms across central Oneida county very early in the morning on July 24, 2012, just past midnight.

The tornado appeared to form in the city of Rome, just north of Lamphear Road, and just south of both State Route 26 and State Route 365. Initially, two telephone poles were downed, along with several trees.

As the tornado progressed towards the east southeast, it damaged portions of a cornfield, before encountering a newly built home. The strong winds pushed the house off its foundation. Additionally, an attached garage on the east side of the residence sustained heavy damage, with the back wall and east facing wall ultimately collapsing, causing the garage to cave in. Garage debris was blown as far as about 200 yards away. Debris was strewn across the back yard of the residence, onto State Route 365, and into the back yard of a neighboring residence to the east. The pattern of damage in these areas, as well as adjacent cornfields, suggests a cyclonic rotation, consistent with a brief tornado touchdown.

Tree damage continued to be observed at a neighboring residence just to the east southeast, south of Lamphear Road. Shortly after this point, no damage was found, indicating that the tornado dissipated or lifted after this time.

The image below is the approximate path of the tornado.

Microburst/Straight Line Wind Damage Confirmed near Whitesboro in Oneida County New York

Location: Whitesboro in Oneida County New York
Date: July 24 2012
Estimated time: 12:12 AM EDT
Estimated maximum wind speed: 100 to 110 MPH
Maximum path width: 500 yards
Path length: 0.2 miles
Beginning lat/lon: 43.13 n / 75.32 w
Ending lat/lon: 43.11 n / 75.28 w
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Summary

A fast moving line of thunderstorms produced damaging straight-line winds in Whitesboro in east-central Oneida County, shortly after midnight on July 24, 2012.

The microburst was short-lived, only producing damage for about 0.2 miles. The damage path was bounded by the New York State Thruway and Hidden Valley Golf Course on the southwest edge, and Holy Cross Cemetery on the northeast edge. Mainly tree damage was found within this roughly 500 yard wide area.

At the Hidden Valley Golf Course, most of the tree damage was found on holes 10 through 15, close to where the course meets up with the thruway. Two to three dozen trees were reportedly snapped, uprooted, or had limbs damaged. The trees were consistently blown down facing the thruway, oriented either towards the east or southeast. Meanwhile, at Holy Cross Cemetery, a larger more impressive swath of trees were downed, uprooted, or snapped. Some of these trees were healthy hardwoods, indicating that winds maximized near or just over 100 mph in this vicinity. At this point, trees were blown down consistently towards the north or northeast.

The pattern described above showed a divergent wind damage signature between Hidden Valley Golf Course and Holy Cross Cemetery, typically indicative of a microburst.

Just a short distance to the southeast of both the golf course and the cemetery along the storm`s track, no further damage was observed.

The image below is the approximate path and width of the straight line winds.

For reference:

For storm reports, please see National Weather Service Storm Data.
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.