A strong cold front pushed into a very warm, moist, and unstable air mass over central New York late in the afternoon on the 30th. The result was widespread severe thunderstorm development.
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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.
The episode as NWS BGM wrote it up.
A strong cold front pushed into a very warm, moist, and unstable air mass over central New York late in the afternoon on the 30th. The result was widespread severe thunderstorm development. Since ground conditions were already saturated from recent heavy rains, isolated flash flooding also took place. Most of the severe weather came from a persistent complex of severe thunderstorms that initially developed in Steuben county during the mid afternoon hours. As this complex moved eastward, it inflicted widespread wind damage and scattered occurrences of large hail from the Elmira/Corning area eastward across Tioga county and through Broome county. Perhaps the most extensive wind damage took place in Broome county near and just west of Binghamton. Many trees were toppled in Endicott and Johnson City and power was knocked out to thousands of customers from late that afternoon into the early evening hours. Flash flooding also resulted from heavy rains across Sullivan county during the evening as thunderstorm cells converged over this area. Portions of route 17 near Monticello were closed for several hours as nearly 3 feet of water covered the roadway. By late in the evening, most of the thunderstorms had pushed well south and east of the region.
The Albany radar (KENX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:38 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm strengthened to severe levels as it moved across southern sections of the county during the early to mid morning hours. Trees were downed in and around Grahamsville around 840 am EDT. Just after 915 am, additional trees and wires were toppled in Lumberland township.
A severe thunderstorm plowed through the county during the mid afternoon hours. Trees and wires were first downed in the Fremont area around 230 pm EDT. Then from just before 3 pm until about 310 pm, widespread wind damage in the form of downed trees and power lines was experienced in the Bath, Campbell, and Hornby areas. Large hail to 2 inches in diameter was also observed by the public in Campbell during this same time frame.
The same severe storm that produced wind damage and large hail in Steuben county earlier in the afternoon remained severe as it crossed into Chemung county. Widespread reports of trees blown down and utility poles toppled were received from the Horseheads and Elmira areas between 325 and 340 pm EDT. Some minor house damage was also noted in Horseheads from falling trees.
The same severe cell that produced widespread damage upstream in Steuben and Chemung counties maintained its severity as it entered Tioga county. Numerous trees and wires were downed in Waverly just after 400 pm EDT and in Nichols about 415 pm.
A long lived bow echo type complex continued to plow eastward from Tioga county and produced additional damage across much of Broome county. Trees and power lines were first downed in the town of Maine around 440 pm EDT. Widespread wind damage followed downstream with numerous trees and wires toppled in the Triple Cities region (Endicott/Binghamton/Johnson City) from around 445 pm to just after 5 pm. Power was knocked out to thousands of customers in this area and several roads were blocked for a time from falling trees. As the cell progressed eastward to the Kirkwood and Conklin areas, more trees were uprooted or otherwise knocked down by the strong winds.
Severe thunderstorms also brought torrential rains to portions of the county. The Hiner Park Creek in the town of Chenango Bridge rose out of its banks late in the afternoon. Several homes immediately adjacent to the creek briefly took on water in their basements and in some cases the first floor. As thunderstorms exited the region and rainfall subsided early in the evening, water levels receded.
Part of the same complex of thunderstorms that produced extensive damage earlier in the afternoon from the Binghamton area westward reintensified to severe levels early in the evening across Sullivan county as several cell mergers took place. Trees and wires were downed in the Cohecton area around 620 pm EDT and in the Jeffersonville area about 640 pm.
Severe thunderstorms and continually redeveloping cells across the same general areas produced extensive flash flooding in the Monticello area during the evening. A skywarn spotter just south of Monticello measured nearly 3 inches of rain in less than an hour's time and close to 5 inches for that evening period. Emergency management personnel reported severe flooding on Route 17 coming into Monticello from the west. Law enforcement officials were forced to close this portion of the highway for several hours as more than 3 feet of water covered the roadway. Other local roadways and side streets in Monticello were also blocked off due to high water conditions. Water levels gradually receded by late evening as rainfall diminished.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, June 1998
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: 5657288, 5657374, 5657375, 5657376, 5657377, 5657378, 5657379, 5657466.