EF2 tornado, Scotch Bush to Schenectady, New York, May 29, 2013

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 29, 2013

Touchdown

6:47 PM EDT (22:47 UTC)

Lifted

7:04 PM EDT (23:04 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

12.8 miles (20.6 km)

Path width

1,760 yards (1609 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Counties

Schenectady and Montgomery counties

Touchdown point

42.846, -74.203

Lift-off point

42.801, -73.959

Record number

1305291647-01

During the day on May 29th, a warm front lifted northward across eastern New York. Although the day began cloudy, some breaks of sun started to occur by early afternoon. At the same time, a potent upper level disturbance over Ontario started to approach the region and a strong jet streak was located just to the north. With a moist southerly flow moving into the region at the surface, it became rather humid as well. ||With all these ingredients coming together, thunderstorms developed across western and central New York by mid afternoon and they began to spread eastward into eastern New York by the late afternoon and evening hours. Many of the thunderstorms organized into a strong squall line, producing widespread wind damage, especially across northern portions of the Capital Region and in the mid-Hudson Valley. These thunderstorms produced a significant amount of lightning, as well, which in combination with the widespread wind damage, led to a significant number of power outages across the area. Many schools in the Capital Region were delayed or closed on Thursday, May 30th as a result of the power outages.||In addition, a few supercell thunderstorms developed ahead of the line. Three tornadoes were spawned by these supercell storms across the Capital Region and Schoharie County. The strongest tornado was rated EF2 by a National Weather Service storm survey, and tracked on the ground for 13 miles across eastern Montgomery and Schenectady Counties. One injury occurred as a result of this tornado, as a man was pulled out of a barn by the force of the wind. Significant damage to trees occurred, along with damage to high tension power line towers and roofs blown off houses. The other tornadoes were rated EF1, were rather short-lived and mainly caused damage to trees.||With the region already rather saturated from repeated thunderstorms over the past week, the additional heavy rainfall that occurred caused flash flooding in some areas. This caused roads to be closed due to being impassable by flowing water.||Thunderstorms pushed east of the area by around midnight, ending the threat of severe weather.

A National Weather Service storm survey determine that a tornado touched down in near Bernaski Road in Scotch Bush in the town of Florida. The tornado was only on the ground in Montgomery County for just under one mile before it crossed into Schenectady County border while traveling east. ||The tornado caused damage to a home along Bernaski Road, with half of the roof blown off. Grass was lifted and splattered on three sides of the home. Many windows were also blown out of the house. Nearby, a hundred year old barn was destroyed. A flagpole was ripped out of the ground. Trees were uprooted and/or split in half as well. Residents recalled seeing a funnel before taking cover.

A National Weather Service storm survey determined that a tornado tracked from the Montgomery County border through the towns of Duanesburg, Princetown, Rotterdam and into the city of Schenectady.||The tornado entered the county as an EF1 and strengthened to EF2 strength when reaching the hamlet of Mariaville Lake in the town of Duanesburg. Many trees were splintered in half or uprooted. Several barns and a shed were destroyed or heavily damaged. One barn was impaled by pieces of debris. An ATV vehicle was moved 100 feet by the force of the wind and an RV was blown over. Homes had damaged to roofs and windows were blown out of cars as well. One person was inside a barn at the time the tornado hit. He was picked up into the air by the tornado and injured by flying debris, suffering lacerations to his head and back.||Further east along the path, the tornado toppled or heavily damaged high tension power line towers that were 90 to 120 feet tall. The tornado weakened as it moved eastward into Rotterdam, but continued to cause significant damage to trees. The tornado crossed Interstate 90 (New York State Thruway) and weakened to EF0 strength as it passed close to the Rotterdam Square Mall. The tornado then entered the city of Schenectady and lifted around the vicinity of Hillhurst Park in the Bellevue section of Schenectady.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS ALY issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:45 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:09 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:22 UTC and running to 02:21 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 19:42 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 Albany radar (KENX), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:47 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 2013 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

25 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.