A low pressure area deepened as it tracked east across the Great Lakes region into the the Saint Lawrence Valley on November 13. The storm continued to strengthen as it moved into the Canadian Maritimes by November 14.
Every event with a place to put it; 14 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 ALY wrote it up.
A low pressure area deepened as it tracked east across the Great Lakes region into the the Saint Lawrence Valley on November 13. The storm continued to strengthen as it moved into the Canadian Maritimes by November 14. A steep pressure gradient between this storm and high pressure building across the Ohio Valley, brought the second major wind event of the fall season to eastern New York. Since the storm was slow moving, this turned out to be a two day high wind event. On the 13th, trees were reported down in the city of Albany, Albany County. Also, in Albany County, trees knocked down wires in Loudonville and a roof was damaged in the city of Cohoes. Wires were downed in Conesville, Schoharie County. In the same county, a roof was blown off a barn in the town of Seward. The wind blew trees and power lines down in Amsterdam, Montgomery County as well as Bolton Landing in Warren County. Also in Warren County, a 50 foot pine tree with a trunk 2.5 feet in diameter, fell onto a road in the town of Luzerne. Another fallen tree blocked Highway Route 9N. A roof over gas pumps at a Stewarts in Rosendale, Ulster County, was badly damaged. In the same county, a large tree fell onto a house near Kingston, damaging the roof. Also in Ulster County, downed live power lines caused a brush fire outside of New Paltz. Strong winds destroyed a porch roof in Fort Plain, Montgomery County. A weather spotter in the town of Glen, Montgomery County clocked a wind gust to 58 mph and then later during the afternoon of the 13th, measured a gust to 64 mph. On the night of the 13th, A portion of the roof of a convenience store was blown off in the town of Melrose, Rennselaer County. Another roof was peeled from a Pizzeria in Fort Plain. Winds sheared off a section of a roof in Johnstown, Fulton County. On the morning of the 14th, siding was torn off a house in Greenport, Columbia County. In Cohoes, a second day of fierce winds pulled down power lines at two schools Friday, forcing the closure of both schools. In Loudonville, also in Albany County, a tree fell onto a truck, injuring the driver. The two day windstorm disrupted power to as many as 10,000 customers in the Mid Hudson Valley and another 15,000 in the Capital District, with up to 4,300 in Warren County alone.
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 Nov 13, 9:15 AM EST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY 915 AM EST THU NOV 13 2003 .DISC...UPDATE ZONES (FIRST PERIOD ONLY) TO REFLECT ONGOING WEATHER. RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW FASTER THAN SUGGESTED BY 1000-850 MB THICKNESS AS VERY COLD AIR ALOFT MOVING IN. WIND GUSTS NOW 40 TO 50 MPH IN PARTS OF CWA. STRONGEST WIND POTENTIAL WILL COME LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS GRADIENT INCREASES AND PERIOD OF MAX PRESSURE RISES APPROACHES. NO CHANGE TO WARNINGS. AS FLOW GOES FROM WSW TO W AND THEN NW THERE COULD BE A A QUICK BURST OF SNOW IN EASTERN PORTION OF CWA. BEST TIMING FOR A SQUALL IN CAPITAL AREA WOULD BE 5 PM TO 7 PM. NPW WILL BE UPDATED BY 11 AM. PREV DISC... WILL DO A QUICK UPDATE...MAINLY TO REMOVE ANY MENTION OF HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY...SINCE IN MOST CASES THEY HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE. TOUCHED UP POPS BASED ON RADAR COVERAGE...LOWERING THEM TO HIGH CHANCE IN THE CAPITAL DISTRICT. TOUCHED UP WINDS. NO CHANGES TO LATER PERIODS. .AVIATION DISCUSSION...A HIGH WIND WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE ENTIRE AREA. MUCH OF THE TIME...THE WINDS WILL NOT REACH HIGH WIND CRITERIA KGFL/KALB/KPOU. HOWEVER...BY THE AFTERNOON...WIND GUSTS COULD REACH 50 KTS OR HIGHER. AN AWW WILL ISSUED WHEN THE THREAT OF GUSTS HIGH THAN 35 KTS WILL TAKE PLACE AT ALBANY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. THE HEAVIER SHOWERS HAVE MOVED OUT OF THE AREA. IN THEIR WAKE...SUBSIDENCE HAS ALLOWED FOR PARTIAL CLEARING. HOWEVER...WE STILL EXPECT CEILINGS TO REFORM AS THE DAY WEARS DUE TO VERY RAPID COLD AIR ADVECTION. STILL THINK SNOW SQUALLS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON...THAT COULD REDUCE BRIEF DRAMATIC REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITIES. .ALY...HIGH WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY WARNING AREA. ************PREVIOUS AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION********** WORKZONES AND ISC GRIDS OUT. .DISC...PER 12 PLANET COORDINATION WILL GO WITH A GENERIC HIGH WIND WARNING WITH THIS PACKAGE. IN REALITY...THE HUDSON VALLEY MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE REAL NASTY WINDS. HOWEVER...THERE ARE ALREADY INDICATIONS OF STRONG GUSTY WINDS OVER BOX AND NOW EVEN BGM. WILL TRY TO BE MORE TIME SPECIFIC IN THE NPW. THE STORM...CENTERED NEAR MONTREAL...IS IN THE PROCESS OF BOMBING OUT DEEPENING ABOUT A MILLIBAR/HOUR FOR THE PAST SEVERAL HOURS. AN EXCELLENT INDICATION OF CYCLOGENESIS IS EVIDENT ON THE IFR SAT PIX THAT SHOWS INCREDIBLE COOLING OF CLOUD SHIELD NORTH OF US. THE MAIN SQUALL OF SHOWERS AND STORMS HAS WEAKENED AS EXPECTED...BUT LOTS MORE SHOWERS ARE DEVELOPING IN THE UPWARD MOTION SECTOR OF THE STORM...ACROSS WESTERN NEW YORK AND WILL RACE EAST. AFTER A BIT OF A BREAK IN THE ACTION...THE MODELS STILL HOME IN ON AN IMPRESSIVE SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON. EVEN WITH DOWNWARD MOTION AT THE H7 LEVEL...THE ETA CROSS SECTIONS SHOW PRETTY GOOD LOW LEVEL ASCENT...AND COULD BE PICKING UP ON LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATE WITH THE VORTICITY TALE. AT THIS POINT...WE WILL HAVE LAKE ENHANCED MOISTURE TO WORK WITH...LINING UP NICELY OFF LAKE ONTARIO...A WINDEX SITUATION (VERY STEEP LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES) AND THE AIR SHOULD BE COLD ENOUGH FOR ALL SNOW EVERYWHERE...EXCEPT POSSIBLY THE MID HUDSON VALLEY. HAVE INCLUDED THE POSSIBILITY OF A HEAVIER SNOW SQUALL DURING THIS TIME FRAME. MENTIONED SOME ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. BY TONIGHT...THE GRADIENT IS AS STEEP AS IT GETS...AND ITS QUITE IMPRESSIVE WITH A 10MB LAPSE RATE IN ABOUT A 150 MILE LENGTH WINDS SHOULD HOWL ALL NIGHT AND PRODUCE MORE PROBLEMS. AS FAR AS THE LAKE EFFECT GOES...LOOKS LIKE A MULTI-BAND SITUATION SETTING UP...AND AT THIS TIME...SHOULD NOT MEET LAKE SNOW ADVISORY CRITERIA. GOOD UPSLOPE SHOULD GIVE SOME MORE SERIOUS SNOW SHOWER ACTIVITY OVER THE ADIRONDACKS. THE GRADIENT ONLY SLOWLY RELAXES FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. STILL WINDY FRIDAY...BUT FOR NOW...EXPECT IT TO BE SLIGHTLY BELOW WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA. BY THE WEEKEND...MODELS ARE INDICATING SOME SORT OF BOUNDARY POSSIBLY SETTING UP ACROSS THE REGION WHICH COULD KEEP IT BIT MORE CLOUDY...AT LEAST ON SATURDAY. HOWEVER...MOS GUIDANCE STILL GOING MOSTLY CLEAR WITH NO POPS. FOR NOW GO WITH A GENERIC PARTLY CLOUDY. EXTENDED...A BRIEF LOOK AT THE 00Z GFS SHOWS LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN THE FIELDS FOR THE EXTENDED. LEFT IT ALONE FOR NOW. .AVIATION DISCUSSION...A HIGH WIND WARNING WILL BE ISSUED FOR THE ENTIRE AREA. MOST OF THE TERMINALS WILL GENERALLY REMAIN BELOW HIGH WIND CRITERIA MOST OF THE DAY. HOWEVER...THIS AFTERNOON...WIND GUSTS COULD EASILY REACH OVER 50 MPH AT KGFL/KPOU AND KALB. EVEN WITHOUT THE HIGHER GUSTS...OPERATIONS WILL LIKELY BE IMPACTED...ESPECIALLY SMALL PLANES. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED STORMS WILL AFFECT THE REGION UNTIL AROUND DAYBREAK. THE SHOWERS WILL EXIT...BUT THE THREAT OF ADDITIONAL LIGHTER SHOWERS WILL REMAIN. AS IT TURNS COLDER...SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME AN INCREASING THREAT. A SNOW BURST IS POSSIBLE DURING THE AFTERNOON WHICH COULD REDUCE VISIBILITIES BRIEFLY TO LIFR. LOOK FOR MVFR/IFR CEILINGS THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE DAY. .HYDROLOGICAL DISCUSSION...RAINFALL WILL REMAIN WELL BELOW FFG VALUES TODAY. NO PROBLEMS ANTICIPATED FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. .ALY...HIGH WIND WIND WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA. HWJIV
CTZ001-013-MAZ001-025-NYZ032-033-038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-082> 084-VTZ013>015-140000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY 410 AM EST THU NOV 13 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NEW YORK AND ADJACENT WESTERN NEW ENGLAND. .DAY ONE...A WIND WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTY WARNING AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. WEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH OVER 40 MPH ACROSS THE AREA AS THE DAY WEARS ON...WITH GUSTS OVER 60 MPH POSSIBLE JUST ABOUT ANYTIME TODAY AND TONIGHT. IN ADDITION...LOCALIZED SNOW SQUALLS THIS AFTERNOON....COMBINED WITH THE HIGH WIND...COULD PRODUCE BRIEF WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AND SLIPPERY ROADS. .DAYS TWO THOUGH SEVEN...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTY WARNING AREA. PLEASE REPORT THE FOLLOWING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AT ALBANY...ANY DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...MEASURED WIND MEETING HIGH WIND CRITERIA (SUSTAINED 41 MPH OR HIGHER...OR GUSTS HIGHER THAN 58 MPH)...OR ANY SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 INCHES OR GREATER.
NEW YORK STATEWIDE POLICE INFORMATION NETWORK
TROOP C
0557AM THU NOV 13 2003
#2 0000002 000
CCSO WLSR
03491 FILE 28 CHENANGO CO SO NORWICH NY0080000 NOV 13-03
TO APB
ROAD CLOSED ******** ROAD CLOSED ******** ROAD CLOSED******
COUNTY ROAD 36 FROM WHITES HILL ROAD TO COUNTY ROAD 37 T/GUILFORD IS CLOSED DUE
TO A MVA. NYSEG IS REQUESTING ROAD TO BE CLOSED TFN DUE TO REPAIRS. WATCH FOR
MESSAGE SHOWING
AUTH DEP TED BOICE WACKFORD 0556
OPER - WACKFORD,KEVIN D 0556NEW YORK STATEWIDE POLICE INFORMATION NETWORK TROOP F 0642AM THU NOV 13 2003 #1 0000001 000 FSTP WLSR APTS 02194 FILE 28 SP HAVERSTRAW NY1430100 NOV 13-03 TO APB PALISADES PARKWAY CLOSED SOUTH BOUND AT MPM23.5 NORTH OF EXIT 11 TOWN OF CLARKSTOWN LARGE TREE DOWN ACROSS ROADWAY STATE DOT ADVISED DURATION CLOSED UNKNOWN EXIT PRIOR TO EXIT 11 ALT ROUTE INTERSTATE - 87 SOUTH AUTH SGT FLYNN SENT TPR WILLIAM PEARSALL 6- 40AM OPER - FLYNN,KEVIN 0642
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
14 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, November 2003
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: 5336294, 5336561, 5336562, 5336646, 5336647, 5336648, 5336554, 5336555, 5336556, 5336557, 5336558, 5336559, 5336563, 5336560.