New York, 1998

Tornado in New York, June 2, 1998

June 2, 1998 · NWS BUF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A tornado struck Wyoming county and did substantial damage to numerous structures and completely destroyed several others. Much of the damage done to this rural area included snapped and downed trees and wires.

Where it happened

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  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1.0 million
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BUF wrote it up.

A tornado struck Wyoming county and did substantial damage to numerous structures and completely destroyed several others. Much of the damage done to this rural area included snapped and downed trees and wires. The initial touchdown of the tornado occurred in Orangeville just east of Orangeville Center Road. As the tornado moved east a barn was leveled on Hermitage Road in Orangeville. On Liberty Street a hanger with three airplanes and a helicopter inside, was destroyed and all four craft sustained damage. Also on Liberty Street a barn and modular home were leveled. The tornado passed south of the Village of Warsaw damaging two houses, a barn and a garage on Keeney Street. Another barn was leveled on Silver Springs Road. The tornado then followed near the border of the Towns of Perry and Castile damaging several sheds and docks as it crossed Silver Lake. The tornado touched down in the Village of Perry where it caused minor damage to eight mobile homes and major damage to five others. Several larger buildings also sustained considerable damage in the Village of Perry. The final traces of the tornado occurred on Middle Reservation Road in Castile where several buildings of a fertilizer plant were leveled. The total path length was 15 miles although the tornado was not on the ground the entire time. This was a slow moving tornado and was viewed by numerous witnesses. Several eyewitnesses reported seeing multiple vortices and in addition to being confirmed by amateur video of the tornado, from the aerial survey conducted several sections of the damage path supported this. No injuries or deaths resulted from the storm--remarkable since some of the buildings which sustained substantial damage were occupied when the tornado struck.

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:42 UTC.

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Wyoming

When
June 2, 5:45 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where
Wyoming County, Orangeville Center to Castile
Rating
F2
Path length
15 mi
Path width
250 yd
Property damage
$1.0 million
Reported by
NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates
42.750, -78.250

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New York in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New York, 1998Warnings in New York, June 1998

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5657029.