F1 tornado, Equinunk to Lordville, New York, May 31, 2002

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 mphthis tornado

   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

F1

Date

May 31, 2002

Touchdown

4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$20,000

Counties

Wayne and Delaware counties

Touchdown point

41.870, -75.200

Lift-off point

41.870, -75.180

Record number

127

The tornado initially touched down across the Delaware River from Lordville, New York which is 1 mile northeast of Equinunk, Pennsylvania. The tornado then traveled east until it lifted out of the river valley approximately a mile and a half downstream or east of Lordville at Bouchoux Brook. The damage path was approximately a quarter mile wide. Tornado damage was evident on both sides of the river. In the vicinity of the touchdown, there was also considerable straight line wind damage. Hundreds of trees were blown down in Pennsylvania in the area of the tornado touchdown. This seemed to be from both the tornado and straight line winds. One person in Lordville received minor injuries when his mobile home overturned. Most other structural damage was a result of trees falling on homes, most of which occurred in New York. The damage is consistent with a strong F0 or weak F1 tornado.

The tornado initially touched down across the Delaware River from Lordville, traveled east, and lifted out of the river valley approximately a mile and a half downstream or east of Lordville at Bouchoux Brook. The damage path was approximately a quarter mile wide. Tornado damage was evident on both sides of the river. In the vicinity of the touchdown, there was also considerable straight line wind damage, especially on the Pennsylvania side of the river east of Equinunk. In total, hundreds of trees were blown down in the area of the touchdown and straight line winds. One person in Lordville received minor injuries when his mobile home overturned. Most other structural damage was a result of trees falling on houses, which occurred mainly in New York. The damage was consistent with a strong F0 or a weak F1 tornado.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:57 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:16 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 Binghamton radar (KBGM), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:01 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 2002 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.