Tornadoes · United States · New York · 1983

F3 tornado, Oneida County, New York, May 2, 1983

This F3 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Oneida County on May 2, 1983, touching down at 10:30 PM EDT and reaching 450 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5 million to $50 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F3
Date
May 2, 1983
Touchdown
10:30 PM EDT (02:30 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
450 yards (411 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
County
Oneida County
Touchdown point
43.480, -75.370
Lift-off point
43.480, -75.300
Record number
243

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Albany, NY (KALB), 00:00Z

2.5 hours before the tornado, 151 km from the path. May 3, 1983.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 00:00Z on 1983-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 311 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 897 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 00:00Z on 1983-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 181 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
311 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
609 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
897 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
181 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
279 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.6
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Albany, NY (KALB), 12:00Z

9.5 hours after it, 151 km from the path. May 3, 1983.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1983-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 50 joules per kilogram, CIN -45, lifted condensation level 1305 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1983-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 103 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
50 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Surface CAPE
114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1305 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Griffiss AFB / Rome (RME), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
01:00 UTC6759180° 4 kt1003-SHRA
01:02 UTC170° 4 kt1002.7
02:00 UTC6659140° 4 kt1001.7
02:16 UTC170° 12 kt1001+TSRA
02:28 UTC190° 15 kt1000.3TS
02:32 UTC230° 11 kt1000.3+TSRA
02:41 UTC270° 15 kt331003+TSRA
03:00 UTC6059270° 12 kt1002TSRA FG
03:17 UTC260° 6 kt1001.7+TSRA
03:25 UTC260° 6 kt1001.7TS
03:38 UTC310° 2 kt1001.7
04:00 UTC6057350° 3 kt1001.7-SHRA
04:19 UTC350° 4 kt1001.7+TSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1983 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 2, 1983

20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 212:05 PM EDTF3Macomb, MI23.02003$5 million to $50 million
May 212:37 PM EDTF2Henry, OH5.083$500,000 to $5 million
May 212:49 PM EDTF3Wood, OH5.0100122$5 million to $50 million
May 212:10 PM CDTF1White, IL0.230$5,000 to $50,000
May 22:20 PM EDTF2Huron, OH2.0502$50,000 to $500,000
May 23:00 PM ESTF0Pike, IN0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 24:10 PM EDTF1Richland, OH10.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 24:20 PM EDTF1Kenton, KY0.520$5,000 to $50,000
May 24:45 PM EDTF2Erie, PA1.033$50,000 to $500,000
May 24:55 PM EDTF3Cuyahoga, OH12.0100125$5 million to $50 million
May 25:00 PM EDTF0Crawford, PA1.033$5,000 to $50,000
May 25:05 PM EDTF3Chautauqua, NY28.04502$500,000 to $5 million
May 25:45 PM EDTF1Ross, OH6.0833$50,000 to $500,000
May 26:27 PM EDTF1Fayette, OH11.083$50,000 to $500,000
May 27:39 PM EDTF2Tioga, PA9.830$500,000 to $5 million
May 28:15 PM EDTF3Chemung, NY15.03006$500,000 to $5 million
May 28:15 PM EDTF3Tioga, NY2.08801$500,000 to $5 million
May 29:15 PM EDTF3Cayuga, NY20.02001$500,000 to $5 million
May 29:29 PM EDTF3Oswego, NY3.0150$50,000 to $500,000
May 212:16 AM CDTF0Desha, AR0.150under $50

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.