EF1 tornado, Newfield Skyhook Arp, New York, April 27, 2011

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

1:41 AM EDT (05:41 UTC)

Lifted

1:45 AM EDT (05:45 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.1 miles (3.3 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$125,000

County

Tompkins County

Touchdown point

42.370, -76.520

Lift-off point

42.390, -76.490

Record number

1104272341-01

A significant severe weather outbreak developed across central New York as a storm system moved east from the Great Lakes. First, showers and thunderstorms developed early in the evening on the 27th, as an upper level disturbance approached the region. Two of the more significant storms included one supercell that produced a tornado in Steuben county, and a bowing line segment that caused tree and structural damage across Steuben, Chemung and Schuyler counties. Elsewhere across central New York, storms caused scattered wind damage and heavy rain. ||After a brief break in the late evening, mini super cells developed overnight ahead of a cold front. Several tornadoes and severe thunderstorms developed between about 1:30 a.m. and 6 a.m., with many reports of damage. Most of the tornadoes were EF1 and EF2. Significant flash flooding also transpired during the overnight hours.

The tornado touched down in a forest off of Jersey Hill Road, northwest of the town of Danby. Numerous pine trees were uprooted and snapped in this forest. The tornado tracked from southwest to northeast, snapping numerous pines as it crossed Comfort Road. A metal outbuilding was completely collapsed and a barn across the street received roof damage, with debris lofted into the trees. ||The tornado continued off to the northeast toward the intersection of Beardsley Lane and Danby Road. One home sustained damage when a tree collapsed onto the roof and a window was blown out. Surrounding homes saw numerous trees snapped or uprooted. A small branch was propelled and impaled into a car windshield. ||A homeowner at the intersection of Beardsley Lane and Danby Road had a working anemometer at the time of the tornado. At 1:44 am, a wind gust to 90.3 mph was recorded. No additional tornado damage was noted as the storm headed off to the northeast.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:28 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:50 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.

Ithaca (ITH), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:40 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

209 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 210 of them

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.