Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2005

F1 tornado, Canisteo, New York, August 12, 2005

This F1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Steuben County on August 12, 2005, touching down at 2:45 PM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
August 12, 2005
Touchdown
2:45 PM EDT (18:45 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Steuben County
Touchdown point
42.270, -77.600
Lift-off point
42.270, -77.600
Record number
344

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado tracked for approximately 1 mile in the town of Canisteo. The maximum width was 200 yards but the worst damage was 75 to 100 yards wide. The tornado started on the east side of Bush Hill just west of State Route 36 about 1 mile south of Gravel Run Road. The tornado moved south along Route 36 and Colonel Bills Creek before moving across both prior to reaching Rock Run Road. The majority of the damage was to large trees. An estimated 100 to 200 trees were uprooted or snapped in half. Significant crop damage was observed in a cornfield. A barn had one side of its tin roof peeled off. Other damage at the farm included a sheared electric pole, a recreational vehicle with two tree branches embedded in it, a silage wagon that was moved, electric lines ripped from the house and barn.

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:30 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:01 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:19 UTC19:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGM
18:30 UTC19:01 UTCTornado WarningBGM

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:28 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.

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), 12:00Z

6.8 hours before the tornado, 116 km from the path. August 12, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 2005-08-12Temperature 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 -75260, lifted condensation level 1425 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 2005-08-12The 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 126 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
-75260 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1425 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
186 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), 00:00Z

5.2 hours after it, 116 km from the path. August 13, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 00:00Z on 2005-08-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 434 joules per kilogram, CIN -45, lifted condensation level 1414 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 00:00Z on 2005-08-13The 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 103 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 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
434 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1178 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1414 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
106 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dansville Municipal (DSV), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:54 UTC7670320° 13 kt1015.6HZ
17:54 UTC7468280° 3 kt1014.9-RA
18:54 UTC7469150° 6 kt1014.6
19:54 UTC7570140° 6 kt1013.9

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

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:42 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
17:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Se CubaAllegany, NYTREE DOWN ON COUNTY RTE 305.
18:03 UTCTSTM WND DMGBelvidereAllegany, NYTREE DOWN ON VEHICLE AT EXIT 30 ON RTE 86.
18:24 UTCTORNADO3 N WellsvilleAllegany, NYBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN VICINITY OF MADISON HILL IN RURAL AREA.
18:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 S CanisteoSteuben, NYNUMEROUS TREES DOWN. ROOF BLOWN OFF BARN.
18:40 UTCTORNADO4 S CanisteoSteuben, NYPOSSIBLE TORNADO ALONG ROUTE 36. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. ROOF BLOWN OFF BARN.
18:40 UTCTORNADO4 S CanisteoSteuben, NYPOSSIBLE TORNADO ALONG ROUTE 36. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. ROOF BLOWN OFF BARN. NWS SURVEY TO BE CONDUCTED SATURDAY.
18:45 UTCTORNADO 14 S CanisteoSteuben, NYALONG STATE ROUTE 36 IN TOWN OF CANISTEO BETWEEN GRAVEL RUN AND ROCK RUN ROADS. PATH LENGTH APPROX 1 MILE. PATH WIDTH APPROX 100 YARDS. TIN ROOF PEELED OFF BARN AND DEPOSITED 300 YARDS UPHILL. 100-200 TREES UPROOTED OR S
19:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGAddisonSteuben, NYNUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
19:08 UTCTSTM WND DMGAddisonSteuben, NYNUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
19:08 UTCTSTM WND DMGAddisonSteuben, NYTREE DOWN
19:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 S CanisteoSteuben, NYNUMEROUS TREES DOWN. ROOF BLOWN OFF BARN.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 12, 2005

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 122:24 PM EDTF0Allegany, NY0.510$10,000
August 124:22 PM EDTF1Sullivan, PA0.730$10,000
August 125:10 PM EDTF0Bradford, PA1.0200$100,000
August 125:56 PM EDTF0Polk, FL0.540
August 124:40 PM MDTF2Campbell, WY1.5450213$5.0 million
August 127:05 PM MDTF0Converse, WY0.130
August 129:45 PM EDTF1Nassau, NY0.250$140,000

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.