EF0 tornado, Kirkwood, New York, July 26, 2012

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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

EF0

Date

July 26, 2012

Touchdown

4:52 PM EDT (20:52 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

66 yards (60 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1,000

County

Broome County

Touchdown point

42.030, -75.760

Lift-off point

42.030, -75.760

Record number

1207261452-01

On the afternoon of July 26th, a significant severe weather event impacted portions of the Binghamton, NY forecast area. By the late morning/early afternoon, a warm front had lifted north through the region placing much of the Binghamton forecast area in a moderately unstable airmass. Aloft, multiple approaching upper-level shortwave troughs approached the region from the central Great Lakes during the early afternoon hours which provided the initial forcing for thunderstorm development. Also, a punch of mid-level dry air helped create mid-level convective instability along with a favorable setup for strong damaging winds.

After a nearly continuous path of straight-line wind damage across southwest and south-central Broome county, a survey team confirmed a tornado touch down just east of Interstate 81 in the town of Kirkwood. The tornado path began on Burts Road, approximately 0.62 miles north-northwest of the Burts/Gorman Road intersection. At this location, multiple hard and soft wood trees were snapped or uprooted. Many fallen trees were oriented in a convergent pattern, which is consistent with tornadic damage. The tornado path continued in a south-southeast manner before lifting.

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

28 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:24 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:17 UTC and running to 21:49 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Binghamton/Broome (BGM), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:53 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 2012 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.