Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2001

F0 tornado, Fabius, New York, September 24, 2001

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Onondaga County on September 24, 2001, touching down at 2:45 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
September 24, 2001
Touchdown
2:45 PM EDT (18:45 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1,000
County
Onondaga County
Touchdown point
42.830, -75.980
Lift-off point
42.830, -75.980
Record number
369

What the Weather Service recorded

A National Weather Service storm survey confirmed an F0 tornado initially reported by members of the broadcast media. The initial touchdown occurred at the intersection of Goodrich Road and Route 80. Spotty damage was observed along a 1/2 mile long, 75 yard wide path. Most of the damage was concentrated at a residence near the initial touchdown where several large trees were downed and a small shed was destroyed. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 50 to 70 MPH.

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

The warnings

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 15:42 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 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 (KALY), 12:00Z

6.8 hours before the tornado, 176 km from the path. September 24, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 2001-09-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -107025, lifted condensation level 860 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2001-09-24The 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 82 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-107025 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
860 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
82 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Albany, NY (KALY), 00:00Z

5.2 hours after it, 176 km from the path. September 25, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 00:00Z on 2001-09-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 169 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 827 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2001-09-25The 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 157 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 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
169 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
497 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
827 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
157 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
311 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:45 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 24, 2001

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 243:03 PM EDTF4Rixeyville–Jeffersonton tornado, VA10.0752$2.0 million
September 243:35 PM EDTF1Orange, VA0.225$10,000
September 243:49 PM EDTF1Fauquier, VA6.075$180,000
September 244:10 PM EDTF0Stafford, VA11.075$1,000
September 243:44 PM CDTF1Fairfax, VA to DC14.01002$1.1 million
September 245:19 PM EDTF3Prince George's, MD17.5200255$101 million
September 246:00 PM EDTF0Bertie, NC1.050$20,000
September 246:33 PM EDTF2York, PA5.0200$900,000

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.