F3 tornado, Vestal to Downsville, New York, May 31, 1998

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.

Rating

F3

Date

May 31, 1998

Touchdown

5:30 PM EDT (21:30 UTC)

Path length

62.0 miles (99.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

12

Property damage

$2.5 million

Counties

Tioga, Broome and Delaware counties

Touchdown point

42.070, -76.150

Lift-off point

42.080, -75.000

Record number

1041

An intensifying storm system moved across upstate New York and into southern Quebec early in the morning on the 31st. This system dragged a warm front northeastward across central New York. A southerly flow of warm, moist, and unstable air quickly developed. This set the stage for severe weather that afternoon and evening as a cold front and strong upper air disturbance approached. From early in the afternoon until the evening hours, central New York was under siege from severe thunderstorms, including several tornadic supercells. In all, six separate tornadoes touched down on this day in central New York. The most devastating twister cut a discontinuous sixty plus mile track from southeastern Tioga county across southern Broome county and into Delaware county where it finally lifted back into the cloud base. This tornado alone damaged or destroyed more than 30 homes and injured nearly 20 people. Very fortunately, no fatalities occurred. Another violent tornado ripped through southern sections of Otsego county between Laurens and Milford. Thousands of trees were snapped off or uprooted with large sections of forest completely taken out. Several residences were leveled and many roads were impassable for days due to the fallen debris. The damage toll from this day's tornadoes ran into the millions. Several strong bow echo complexes also affected central New York. From southern Chenango county through the lower half of Otsego county, one such storm took out hundreds of trees and inflicted considerable structural damage in and around Oneonta. One man was killed in Oneonta when hit by a falling tree limb. Throughout Onondaga county, wind gusts estimated at 90 to 100 mph caused widespread damage early in the evening between 6:00 and 6:30 pm EDT. Two large transmission towers near Nedrow were toppled from the winds and many buildings had blown out windows and/or roof damage. Hail as large as 3 to 4 inches in diameter accompanied some of the tornadic supercells across New York's southern tier; smashing windows, severely denting cars, and causing crop losses. New York State Electric and Gas Company estimated that hundreds of thousands of customers were without power during the height of the storms late that afternoon and evening. Some of the more remote locations did not have power restored for the better part of a week.

A tornadic supercell ripped across southern sections of the county between approximately 5:35 pm and 6:45 pm EDT. Tornado intensities varied from F0 to F3 along this path. Hailstones as large as baseballs and tea cups were also observed along the cell's southern and western flanks. A tornado which affected Apalachin in southeastern Tioga county crossed the county line and into the town of Vestal around 5:35 pm EDT. At this point, the tornado was rated as F0 intensity with the width of the damage path around 70 yards. Damage was primarily to trees with some large trees uprooted and/or twisted off over hilltop sections. As the cell moved further east into the town of Binghamton, the tornado intensified to category F2 with the damage width increasing to around 100 yards. In this location, the damage became increasingly severe with more structures affected. The local ABC affiliate in the town of Binghamton sustained major damage. A 1000 foot television tower was twisted and toppled to the ground. A large trash dumpster was lifted off the ground and tossed into two satellite dishes, then thrown about 100 yards further over an embankment. A sport utility vehicle was rolled over several times as witnessed by a television crew member. Another vehicle was also moved and a video tape was carried over a mile and a half away from the station. Several small trailers were also flattened in Binghamton just east of Ingraham Hill and others had minor roof damage. Two serious injuries occurred when a trailer collapsed upon the two female occupants who were in the kitchen at the time. Between approximately 6:20 and 6:45 pm EDT, the tornado moved further east through Conklin, Kirkwood, Windsor, and eventually to the Sanford/Deposit area. In the towns of Conklin and Kirkwood, the tornado maintained an F2 intensity. More than a dozen homes took on damage as the twister moved through. For the majority of these residences, damage was restricted to shingles and/or portions of the siding torn off or damaged from falling trees. However, there were several trailers that were nearly or completely destroyed within the direct path of the tornado in the town of Conklin. For one such trailer, its wreckage was strewn downstream for more than a quarter of a mile. As the twister moved into the town of Windsor, it briefly weakened to F0 intensity. At that point, touchdown locations appeared to be restriced to a few scattered spots with damage consisting of tree tops snapped or twisted off. Once the tornado reached the town of Sanford, it reintensified and reached category F3. A well built house was totally destroyed. The only part of the structure left standing was a small interior closet. Also, a wide swath of trees were flattened near a power company sub-station. Trees were twisted off and blown in all directions with hundreds of them estimated to be toppled. Local residents observed hail to 3 inches in diameter near the path of the tornado. Fortunately, as the twister reached its greatest intensity, it affected areas that were more sparsely populated. In all, county emergency management officials estimated damage totals near 1.5 million dollars. Dozens of structures were severely damaged or destroyed and thousands of trees were cut down. Twelve injuries were sustained in total with very fortunately no loss of life. In some of the more remote areas, it took the better part of a week to restore power. Two of the three local television affiliates were knocked off the air for a time on the evening of the 31st with several radio stations also suffering through service interruptions for up to three days. The towns of Binghamton, Conklin, and Sanford were put under a local state of emergency and also ultimately declared federal disaster areas.

The same tornadic supercell that moved through southern portions of Broome county crossed into Delaware county in Deposit around 6:45 pm EDT. At that point, the tornado was still quite strong and maintained an intensity of category F3. Several more homes were severely damaged as the twister moved over route 8 and areas just west of Cannonsville Reservoir. Again, large swaths of trees were cut down and hail larger than baseballs was observed. Once the cell passed on to the east across Tompkins and Colchester townships, it weakened as tornado intensity decreased to F1. Significant tree damage was seen in both ground and aerial damage surveys along hilltop areas just north and east of Cannonsville Reservoir. Hundreds of tree tops were estimated to be twisted off with several utility poles also taken out in these areas. Further east towards Downsville, tornado intensity fluctuated between F0 and F1 with most of the damage to trees along ridge tops. Fortunately, the twister skipped along sparsely populated areas for the most part. As a result, structural damage and injuries were kept to a minimum. Once the cell reached the eastern end of Pepacton Reservoir, it weakened further with the tornado apparently lifting back into the cloud base. Emergency management officials estimated damage totals approaching a million dollars. The majority of the damage occurred in Deposit. The town of Deposit was placed under a local state of emergency for several days with this area also eventually receiving federal aid.

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

38 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:52 UTC, 38 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:10 UTC.

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 High Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 10:32 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

45 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.