F0 tornado, Fire Island, New York, June 26, 1997

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 mph

   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.

Rating

F0

Date

June 26, 1997

Touchdown

5:25 PM EDT (21:25 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Suffolk County

Touchdown point

40.680, -73.000

Lift-off point

40.680, -73.000

Record number

431

A line of scattered severe thunderstorms developed in a moist unstable airmass ahead of an approaching cold front. These storms produced high winds and hail. High winds downed several trees and power lines in several areas. The "swath" of greatest damage extended from Central Rockland County southeast across Southern Westchester County, Northern Nassau County and Northwest Suffolk County. High winds also downed trees and power lines in Greenwood Lake and Chester (Orange County). They resulted in accidents, causing seven people to get injured in Newburgh. A driver and passenger were injured in Newburgh when a tree fell across Route 52 and landed on their car. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service Upton Office confirmed that a weak F0 tornado occurred late Thursday afternoon in the Cherry Grove Community on Fire Island. Damage was light with a few businesses, houses, and boats at the ferry terminal at Cherry Grove being affected. The damage was limited to awnings, windows, roofs, and trees.The tornado formed in a thunderstorm complex that produced severe wind damage across Southeast NY, from Central Rockland, southeast to Northwest Suffolk Counties. A 56 mph wind gust was measured by a Weather Access Automated Station at the Fire Island Coast Guard, which is about 10 miles west of Cherry Grove.Additionally, it was learned that a cloud-to-ground lightning strike to one of the ferries servicing the area resulted in damage to the radio/navigation system on the vessel.Funnel clouds were sighted from Bayville to Syosset in Northern Nassau County and in Huntington in Northwest Suffolk County.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:34 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

Islip/Macarthur (ISP), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Brookhaven radar (KOKX), 24 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:25 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1997 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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