Flooding in New York, February 1 to 2, 2002

Name: Flooding in New York, February 1 to 2, 2002
Start: 2002-02-01T08:00
End: 2002-02-02T20:00
Location: New York

February 1 to 2, 2002 · NWS BUF · 5 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $38,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 large scale storm system crossed the region on January 31st-February 1st bringing precipitation amounts of two to three inches to the region. The heavy rains on bare, saturated ground caused area creeks to rise with several exceeding flood stage. Cazenova Creek at Ebenezer rose above its flood stage of 10 feet at 8 am EST on the 1st and crested at 12.3 feet at 1pm. Cayuga creek at Lancaster rose above its 8 foot flood stage at 11 am on the 1st and crested at 8.9 feet at 4pm. Buffalo Creek at Gardenville rose above its 7 foot flood stage at 10 am on the 1st and crested at 8.2 feet at 4pm. Scajaquada Creek overflowed its banks at Delaware Park in Buffalo and Delaware road was closed for several hours in the late afternoon and evening of the 1st. Tonawanda Creek at Batavia exceeded its 9 foot flood stage at 6 am on the 2nd and crested at 10.1 feet at 2pm.

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 Buffalo, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 1, 4:20 AM EST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 1, 4:20 AM EST, 3 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
420 AM EST FRI FEB 1 2002

WARM AIR MAKING ITS WAY NORTH ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA. A BIT OF
LINGERING ZR- OVER THE COUNTIES BORDERING THE SOUTH SHORE OF LK
ONTARIO, BUT THIS SHOULD END SOON. EXPECT ONLY AREA TO STILL HAVE A
PROBLEM WITH FREEZING PCPN IS EAST OF LK ONTARIO. WINTER STORM
WARNINGS WILL BE CONTINUED FOR THE MORNING WITH 1/4-1/3 MORE ICE
ACCUMULATION BEFORE WARM AIR SPREADS UP THERE.

BIGGER CONCERN IS THE HIGH WINDS FCST TO DEVELOP THIS MRNG. MODELS
SHOW WINDS 50-70KT 2-4KFT WITH BUFKIT 10M WINDS APPROACH 40KTS.
WHILE TEMPS ARE FCST TO WARM UP INTO THE 40S...HIGH WINDS WILL PICK
UP THIS MORNING AND MANY TREES/LINES WILL STILL BE ICE COATED. WILL
ISSUE HIGH WIND WARNINGS FOR THE ENTIRE CWA. ACROSS THE SRN TIER,
WHERE ICE WASNT AS MUCH A CONCERN, HIGHER TERRAIN WILL SEE THE
HIGHEST GUSTS.

THE OTHER PROBLEM IS THE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT HAS FALLEN AND IS
EXPECTED THROUGH THIS MORNING. SOME AREA CREEKS ARE RUNNING HIGH.
RFC GUIDANCE FROM LATE LAST EVENING PUT SOME LOCAL CREEKS ABOVE FS.
LATEST RFC RUN (1AM DATA) HOLDS THEM BELOW FS. RISES HAVE SEEMED TO
LEVEL OFF A BIT. WILL HOLD OFF FOR NOW ON ANY FLOOD WARNINGS, BUT
WILL KEEP A CLOSE WATCH THRU THESE EARLY MORNING HOURS.

AS THE LOW MOVES OFF TO NEW ENGLAND THIS AFTERNOON COLDER AIR WILL
POUR IN TONIGHT/SATURDAY. SOME LINGERING SW THIS AFTN/EARLY TONIGHT
OTRW NO PCPN EXPECTED UNTIL LATER SAT NIGHT.

.BUF...WINTER STORM WARNING THIS MORNING NYZ007-008
       HIGH WIND WARNING TODAY NYZ001>005-010>014-019>020
       HIGH WIND WARNING THIS AFTERNOON NYZ007-008

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Erie

When: February 1, 8:00 AM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.758, -78.780 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Erie

When: February 1, 10:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST
Where: Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.758, -78.780 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Erie

When: February 1, 11:00 AM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where: Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $8,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.758, -78.780 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Erie

When: February 1, 4:35 PM EST to 8:00 PM EST
Where: Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 42.758, -78.780 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Genesee

When: February 2, 6:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST
Where: Genesee forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 43.001, -78.194 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New York in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, February 2002

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: 5283336, 5283333, 5283335, 5283332, 5283334.