National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Overview

A mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) tracked across New York state on July 16, 2024. This was related to a larger Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that developed well upstream in the Midwest the day before leading to widespread storm damage in the Chicago Metro area. After the MCV tracked off Lake Ontario, a line of organized and severe thunderstorms quickly developed and tracked through Central NY leading to widespread wind damage and tornadoes. With favorable hot and humid conditions in place over eastern NY, the organized severe line of storms continued its eastward track during the afternoon and evening hours. Widespread and, in some areas, considerable wind damage was observed along with embedded tornadoes through the western/southern Adirondacks, Mohawk Valley, Upper Hudson Valley, Capital District, and southern VT with the strongest and most intense storms occurring along and north of Interstate 90. The highest recorded wind gust occurred at the NYS Mesonet at Glens Falls of 87 mph, which is the highest recorded wind gust by any mesonet site on record at the time. Scattered to numerous power outages occurred as a result of the storms.

National Weather Service Storm Surveys, with some being assisted by other state authorities, concluded seven tornado touchdowns. Six of these tornadoes were rated EF-1 with estimated peak winds between 90 and 110 mph. These tornadoes occurred in the Town of Ohio (Herkimer County), Little Moose Lake/Limekiln Lake (Hamilton County), the West Branch of the Sacandaga River/West River Road (Hamilton County), Oxbow Lake (Hamilton County), Wilcox Lake Wild Forest (Hamilton/Warren County), and the Town of Day (Saratoga County). One EF-0 tornado touched down near The Glen in central Warren County with estimated peak winds of 85 mph.

In addition to tornadoes, two microbursts, determined through remote damage assessment using drone footage and satellite imagery, were noted in Warren County. Both brought large areas of extensive tree damage with hundreds of hardwood trees being uprooted and snapped. The first was noted in western Warren County along and east of Stewart Creek with the second around Bear Point at the Tongue Mountain Range that extends into Lake George. A third microburst occurred near North Rupert, VT which snapped and uprooted over 2 dozen trees.

By far, the majority of the widespread damage that was observed was a result of straight line winds. Some power outages lasted for multiple days and some area roads were also impassable for days.

States of Emergency were declared for multiple municipalities. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also declared a state of emergency for all of New York State following all of the severe thunderstorms that impacted the state over the past week. The governor also requested a Federal Emergency Declaration following this severe weather event which included the counties of Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Saratoga and Warren.

The National Weather Service in Albany, NY would like to thank the New York State Police, New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) Office of Emergency Management Region III, our trained Skywarn Spotters, CoCoRaHS Observers and others who assisted us evaluate the considerable damage across eastern New York and western New England. We sincerely appreciate all the pictures and emails sent to us. Your efforts helped us immensely with our storm surveys and evaluation of this remarkable event.