Severe Storms July 18, 2011

Summary
Radar

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.

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