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.

NWS Storm Surveys have confirmed multiple tornadoes and one microburst from this event. Details of each are found below. By far, the majority of the widespread damage that was observed was a result of straight line winds.

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.