Name: Wildfire in New York, April 16, 2001
Start: 2001-04-16T14:00
End: 2001-04-16T18:00
Location: New York

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $95,000
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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Albany, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 16, 1:05 PM EST, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 1:05 PM EST, 55 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
205 PM EDT MON APR 16 2001

H2.5 JET AXIS FM NRN RCKYS-IL-MID ATLC RGN. SMALL THERMAL RDG BUCKLE
AT H8 EXTENDING INTO SRN MI WITH H9 THERMAL RDG DISPLACED ABT 300 MI
TO THE E OF THAT POSITION. PLENTIFUL LOW LVL MSTR EXISTS FM
DAKOTAS-CNTRL GRTLKS-DELMARVA PEN. SFC LOW AT 17Z WAS NR LK HURON
WITH BEST PRES FALLS BKN INTO THREE LOBES...ONE ACRS SRN
QUE...ANOTHER CNTRL LK ERIE-ERN KY AND NUMBER THREE FOR N/CNTRL
NH-SRN ME. AVN RUN HAS RAISED THE BAR OF CONCERN...FIGURE NRN
FOOTHILLS OF CTSKLS SHOULD HAVE SHOT AT ADVY TYPE SN...ONCE AGAIN
USING THE HI ELEV GRASSY PROVISO...BUT THIS IS ANOTHER FINE EXAMPLE
OF A STORM THAT IS JUST SLOW ENOUGH TO MESS UP MORE PDS...BUT IF YOU
STRATTLE YOUR TIME LINE A FEW HRS FM THE CARDINAL POINTS ONE COULD
COUGH UP THRESHOLD VALUES. ON THE FENCE WATCH VS. WRNG IN CTSKLS
PROPER...BUT GIVEN HOW MANY WAYS THE FCST CAN GO SOUR...MAINTAINING
WATCH SEEMS TO BE PATH OF LEAST REGRET ATTM...SPCLY WITH H8-H10 THKNS
LOOKING AS LARGE AS THEY ARE. THIS IS ALSO WHY I AM LEANING AGAINST
FLAGGING THE MORE ERN HIR TRRN. ONCE VERTICAL SYSTEM GETS AWAY...WE
END UP IN...YOU GUESSED IT...VOT LOBE-PACKED NW FLOW AS CENTRL
CANADA TRYS TO EMPTY OUT AGAIN. FEEL PCPN MAY BE SPREAD OUT ENOUGH
THAT OUR CHC FOR FLOOD WATCH CONSIDERATION FOR SRN VLYS IS JUST A
LTL TOO SMALL...HOWEVER IF PROGGED WINDS ON UPR SIDE OF SYSTEM WERE
ANOTHER FEW KTS STGR...I WOULD STGLY CONSIDER A FLOOD WATCH FOR
UPSLOPE OF CTSKLS...ESF MAY BE WARRANTED.  MCKINLEY/KDL

.ALY...NY ERN...FLOOD WRNG ON SCHROON RIVER /OPEN ENDED/ ZONE 42
                WINTER STORM WATCH LT TNGT INTO TUE TNGT ZONES 58 63
                WINTER WX ADVY TUE AND TUE NGT ZONES 47 48 51
 VT EXTRM SRN...NONE
 MA EXTRM WRN...NONE
        CT NW...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Washington

When: April 16, 2:00 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Washington County, Argyle
Property damage: $95,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 43.314, -73.431 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A person in Argyle, Washington County was burning his trash during the afternoon of April 16. The wind increased, causing the fire get out of control. The tinder had dried out enough for the fire to spread quickly. 34 acres of land were scorched and a hay barn destroyed. Flames reached as high as 10 feet. There was still too much mud underneath to allow fire engines to be moved across the fields. Therefore, the fire was extinquished by hand. It was considered the worst brush fire in Washington County in at least seven years.

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New York in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, April 2001

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: 5239395.