High Wind in New York, September 11, 2002

Name: High Wind in New York, September 11, 2002
Start: 2002-09-11T15:00
End: 2002-09-11T18:30
Location: New York

September 11, 2002 · NWS ALY · 7 events in 7 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 7 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: $118,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

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 ALY wrote it up.

During the afternoon of September 11, a steep gradient developed between a cool Canadian high pressure area over the Great Lakes, and a double barreled low pressure area, including the circulation from Hurricane Gustaf, off the mid Atlantic Coast. This scenario resulted in a high wind event across portions of eastern New York. Strong northwesterly wind gusts were clocked as high as 67 mph by a weather spotter in the town of Catskill, Greene County. There were reports of some downed trees throughout eastern portions of that county. Trees were also reported blown down near Kingston, and other places in Ulster County. A large limb of a tree fell onto a large home in Hudson, Columbia County, producing minor damage to that structure. More trees were damaged throughout Columbia County. The town of Pine Plains in eastern Dutchess County was hard hit with several large trees and powerlines down. A large concentration of wind damage took place in southeastern Renselaer County where Route 20, near Nassau, was closed by many trees toppling onto power lines. A nearby local road was temporarily closed as well. Scattered downed trees and power lines were reported throughout Warren County. The wind temporarily knocked out power to about 1,500 customers in the Queensbury - Lake George Region, about 3,000 customers in the Greater Capital District, and up to 25,000 in the Catskill and Mid Hudson region of eastern New York.

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 Sep 11, 2:45 PM EST, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 11, 2:45 PM EST, 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
345 PM EDT WED SEP 11 2002

WORKZONES OUT.

.DISC...TIGHT GRADIENT BETWEEN COMPLEX TROUGH (INCLUDING DEPARTING
HURRICANE GUSTAV) AND HIGH PRESSURE AND ASSOCIATED CAA...HAS CAUSED
SOME MINOR WIND RELATED PROBLEMS IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY. HOWEVER...WE
FEEL WITH SFC TEMPS LOWERING THERE AS WELL AS THE GRADIENT SLOWLY
RELAXING...WILL ALLOW PREVIOUSLY ISSUED WWA TO EXPIRE.
NEVERTHELESS...THE WINDS WILL STICK AROUND FOR AWHILE THIS EVENING
AND WILL BE REFLECTED IN ZONES. CLOUDS...THE RESULT OF AN
INCREASING LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATE AND LAKE ENHANCED MOISTURE...SHOULD
SLOWLY DISSIPATE TOO. THE ONLY EXCEPTION MIGHT BE ACROSS THE MOHAWK
VALLEY AND CATSKILLS WHERE LAKE EFFECT CLOUDS MIGHT LINGER AWHILE
LONGER. FOR NOW...WILL JUST CALL IT PARTLY CLOUDY AND LET THE
EVENING SHIFT REVISIT CLOUD CONDITIONS LATER ON. DUE TO LINGERING
CLOUDS...AND WIND DO NOT EXPECT ANY FROST FORMATION UP IN THE
ADIRONDACKS. TEMPS CLEARLY TOO WARM ELSEWHERE TONIGHT.

HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS TO OUR SOUTH AND WEST TOMORROW...THEN SOUTH AND
EAST OF OUR CWA BY FRIDAY. BOTH DAYS SHOULD BE MOSTLY SUNNY...BUT
WITH STEEP LAPSE RATE...WILL CALL IT PARTLY CLOUDY ACROSS THE
MOUNTAINS ON THURSDAY. WILL BE BREEZY BUT NOT AS WINDY AS YESTERDAY.

THE WIND WILL TURN SWRLY ON FRIDAY AND H8 TEMPS WILL WARM BACK UP TO
ABOUT 12C. TEMPS SHOULD REBOUND NICELY. WAA MIGHT GENERATE PATCHY
CLOUDS BUT NOT ENOUGH TO GO LESS THAN A PARTLY CLOUDY THRESHOLD.
HIGH PRESSURE...FORECAST TO BE OFFSHORE BY SATURDAY...SHOULD KEEP US
DRY AND SEASONABLY WARM ON SATURDAY.

HOWEVER...THE 12Z AVN RACES MOISTURE WITH THE NEXT COLD FRONT RACING
IN BY 12Z SUNDAY. THERE IS MORE SIGNIFICANT UA TROUGH ASSOCIATE WITH
IT...AND A MUCH BETTER SRLY FETCH TO YIELD GOOD MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE. WILL INCLUDE A HIGH CHC OF SHOWERS ALL DAY SUNDAY. ON
THE OTHER HAND...THE 12Z AVN MOVES MOISTURE OUT A LITTLE FASTER ON
MONDAY...SO WILL DRY IT A BIT FASTER. LOOKS AS IF A LARGE CANADIAN
HIGH PRESSURE WILL TAKE CONTROL BY LATER NEXT WEEK.

GO CLOSE TO THE FWC/MET AND MAV BLEND.

.HYDROLOGICAL STATUS...NONE. NO REAL PCPN FORECAST THROUGH
F48.

.ALY...NONE.

HWJIV

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Eastern Rensselaer

When: September 11, 3:00 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Rensselaer forecast zone
Property damage: $30,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.711, -73.510 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Greene

When: September 11, 3:17 PM EST to 6:17 PM EST
Where: Eastern Greene forecast zone
Measured: 67 kt (77 mph)
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.277, -74.123 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Western Columbia

When: September 11, 3:30 PM EST to 6:30 PM EST
Where: Western Columbia forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.250, -73.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Ulster

When: September 11, 3:30 PM EST to 6:30 PM EST
Where: Eastern Ulster forecast zone
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.888, -74.259 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Western Ulster

When: September 11, 3:30 PM EST to 6:30 PM EST
Where: Western Ulster forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.888, -74.259 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Eastern Dutchess

When: September 11, 3:30 PM EST to 6:30 PM EST
Where: Eastern Dutchess forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.765, -73.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Warren

When: September 11, 3:30 PM EST to 6:30 PM EST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Property damage: $8,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 43.561, -73.846 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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, September 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: 5318344, 5318341, 5318342, 5318343, 5318345, 5318346, 5318347.