Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2004
F1 tornado, Sanford to Deposit, New York, May 24, 2004
From Sanford to Deposit, this F1 tornado ran 6.0 miles across Broome and Delaware counties on May 24, 2004, touching down at 5:30 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- F1
- Date
- May 24, 2004
- Touchdown
- 5:30 PM EDT (21:30 UTC)
- Path length
- 6.0 miles (9.7 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Counties
- Broome and Delaware counties
- Touchdown point
- 42.100, -75.480
- Lift-off point
- 42.100, -75.400
- Record number
- 1123
What the Weather Service recorded
An F1 tornado touched down near Sanford NY at 530 pm EDT. The tornado tracked east into Delaware County where it lifted about 3 miles northeast of Deposit, NY at 540 pm EDT. The tornado uprooted and snapped many trees along its path. The tornado demolished a trailer, damaged siding on a house and destroyed a barn. In addition to the damage from the tornado, there was a 5 mile swath of hail damage in and around Sanford and northeast of Sanford.
An F1 tornado touched down near Sanford NY at 530 pm EDT. The tornado tracked east into Delaware County where it lifted about 3 miles northeast of Deposit, NY at 540 pm EDT. The tornado uprooted and snapped many trees along its path. The tornado demolished a trailer, damaged siding on a house and destroyed a barn. In addition to the damage from the tornado, there was a 5 mile swath of hail damage in and around Sanford and northeast of Sanford.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
8 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:22 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13:29 UTC | 14:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BGM |
| 20:31 UTC | 21:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BGM |
| 21:12 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BGM |
| 21:22 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | BGM |
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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 21:44 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), 00:00Z
2.5 hours after it, 148 km from the path. May 25, 2004.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1327 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -49 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1195 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 720 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 256 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 368 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.4
- Supercell composite
- 11.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.1 K/km
The surface observations
Binghamton/Broome (BGM), 46 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:53 UTC | 77 | 60 | 220° 7 kt | 1006.1 | ||
| 20:06 UTC | 69.8 | 57.2 | 210° 10 kt | 32 | 1006.1 | +RA |
| 20:15 UTC | 64.4 | 57.2 | 240° 6 kt | 16 | 1006.1 | -RA |
| 20:35 UTC | 69.8 | 60.8 | 270° 10 kt | 1007.1 | RA | |
| 20:38 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 320° 25 kt | 39 | 1007.1 | +RA SQ |
| 20:41 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 340° 16 kt | 39 | 1006.4 | +RA FG SQ |
| 20:44 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 350° 13 kt | 39 | 1006.1 | +RA FG SQ |
| 20:53 UTC | 69 | 60 | 330° 5 kt | 1006.1 | -RA | |
| 21:53 UTC | 73 | 65 | 250° 9 kt | 1006.1 | ||
| 22:53 UTC | 69 | 62 | 330° 12 kt | 1007.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:31 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 2004 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 24, 2004
52 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24 | 3:05 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 2.0 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| May 24 | 3:20 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| May 24 | 3:28 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| May 24 | 3:35 PM CDT | F1 | Holt, MO | 2.0 | 300 | $10,000 | ||
| May 24 | 3:35 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| May 24 | 3:41 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 0.1 | 15 | $1,000 | ||
| May 24 | 3:52 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| May 24 | 3:58 PM CDT | F1 | Nuckolls, NE | 2.0 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| May 24 | 4:02 PM CDT | F0 | Thayer, NE | 2.0 | 75 | $30,000 | ||
| May 24 | 4:06 PM CDT | F1 | Thayer, NE | 2.0 | 450 | $500,000 | ||
| May 24 | 4:15 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 4:16 PM CDT | F0 | Nuckolls, NE | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| May 24 | 4:18 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 4:24 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 4:28 PM CDT | F0 | Nodaway, MO | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 4:29 PM CDT | F0 | Thayer, NE | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| May 24 | 4:30 PM CDT | F0 | Fremont, IA | 3.0 | 40 | |||
| May 24 | 4:55 PM CDT | F2 | Gentry, MO | 17.0 | 250 | 1 | $10 million | |
| May 24 | 4:57 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 4:58 PM CDT | F0 | Madison, IA | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 5:08 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 5:12 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 5:25 PM CDT | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 5:29 PM CDT | F0 | Washington, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 5:40 PM CDT | F0 | Warren, IA | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| May 24 | 5:53 PM CDT | F0 | Harrison, MO | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 6:18 PM CDT | F1 | Livingston, MO | 9.5 | 200 | $1.7 million | ||
| May 24 | 6:21 PM CDT | F1 | Caddo, OK | 0.2 | 25 | $40,000 | ||
| May 24 | 6:24 PM CDT | F0 | Harrison, MO | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 6:27 PM CDT | F1 | Caddo, OK | 0.2 | 30 | $50,000 | ||
| May 24 | 6:47 PM CDT | F1 | Linn, MO | 5.0 | 150 | $200,000 | ||
| May 24 | 7:12 PM CDT | F0 | Worth, MO | 2.0 | 100 | |||
| May 24 | 7:20 PM CDT | F0 | Ringgold, IA | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| May 24 | 7:21 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 0.5 | 30 | |||
| May 24 | 7:25 PM CDT | F1 | Shawnee, KS | 1.2 | 75 | $100,000 | ||
| May 24 | 7:27 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 0.7 | 30 | $1,000 | ||
| May 24 | 7:29 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 0.3 | 50 | $1,000 | ||
| May 24 | 7:29 PM CDT | F0 | Wabaunsee, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 7:32 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| May 24 | 7:39 PM CDT | F0 | Wabaunsee, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 7:45 PM CDT | F1 | Macon, MO | 1.0 | 100 | $300,000 | ||
| May 24 | 7:48 PM CDT | F0 | Osage, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 7:53 PM CDT | F0 | Appanoose, IA | 0.1 | 25 | $2,000 | ||
| May 24 | 7:58 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| May 24 | 10:55 PM CDT | F0 | Marion, MO | 2.0 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 10:55 PM CDT | F0 | Ralls, MO | 0.2 | 40 | |||
| May 24 | 11:00 PM CDT | F0 | Pike, IL | 1.0 | 40 | |||
| May 24 | 11:05 PM CDT | F1 | Pike, IL | 5.0 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 11:15 PM CDT | F1 | Pike, IL | 3.0 | 50 | |||
| May 24 | 11:19 PM CDT | F1 | Scott, IL | 7.3 | 100 | 1 | 1 | |
| May 24 | 11:35 PM CDT | F2 | Morgan, IL | 1.2 | 100 | 1 | $4.0 million | |
| May 24 | 12:09 AM CDT | F1 | Sangamon, IL | 0.3 | 75 |
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.