Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, August 9, 2001

A lake breeze front off Lake Ontario, interacted with a hot and humid air mass, to trigger a thunderstorm cluster in western New York during the late afternoon of August 9. As the thunderstorm complex reached the Mohawk Valley, it evolved into a supercell. The supercell then developed into a mesoscale convective system (MCS) as it move into the Lake George / Saratoga region and into the northern Taconics. This storm left a large swath of damage including numerous trees and power poles knocked down in the Herkimer County towns of Russia, Ohio, Norway, Fairfield, Salisbury and Dolgeville. A National Weather Service team was deployed to investigate the damage in Poland and Newport also in Herkimer County. In Poland, the team found a swath of snapped trees and six snapped power poles on Route 8 between North Gage and Brayton Roads, knocked down in the same direction in a path two tenths of a mile wide. The winds were estimated to have blown as high as 60 to 80 mph. Similar damage was reported in the area where Route 28 crosses the West Canada Creek. At the intersection of Route 28 and Main Street, two large pine trees were knocked down onto a house and car. Eyewitnesses also reported hail as large as two inches in diameter. Along Route 28 just south of Newport, large trees and power poles were knocked down by straight line winds again estimated between 60 and 80 mph. On Main street in Newport, more trees and power lines were downed, all in the same direction and one tree fell onto a house. Eyewitnesses also reported one and a half inch hail diameter. In Fairfield, near the intersection of Route 29 and Platform Road, a tree toppled onto a car but did not injure the driver. A trailer home was totally destroyed near that town as well. Police reported numerous trees and wires down between 6 and 7 PM throughout a large area of Fulton County. The National Weather Service investigated an area around Stratford which had the most concentrated damage in the county. They found a large scattering of downed trees and power lines in the vicinity of Route 29A, between Paper Mill Corners and Stratford Road. There were reports of a rotating wall cloud in this vicinity. Wind damage then spread into Warren County, as power lines were blown down in both the villages of Lake Luzerne and Lake George. A 75 mph wind gust was observed in Stillwater, Saratoga County with trees also blown down. Also in Saratoga County, scattered trees were blown down in Malta, Clifton Park, Saratoga Springs and Saratoga Lake. At one point, 30 roads were temporarily closed throughout Saratoga Springs. At Saratoga Lake, a huge tree fell onto and crushed three boats. Even though the core of the storm passed north of Schenectady, winds from the outflow boundary were strong enough to produce wind damage in the city of Schenectady. Police reported numerous trees and wires down as well as siding ripped off a building. There was one damage report in Rensselaer County. Trees and wires were blown down at Melrose. The National Weather Service Team concluded that the damage from this cluster of storms was the result of straight line thunderstorm winds. The thunderstorms temporarily knocked out power to an estimated 10,000 customers in the Lake George Saratoga Region and an additional 3,000 homes in the Mohawk Valley.