Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2021
EF1 tornado, Pt Rock to West Branch, New York, June 3, 2021
From Pt Rock to West Branch, this EF1 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Oneida County on June 3, 2021, touching down at 3:26 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $55,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF1
- Date
- June 3, 2021
- Touchdown
- 3:26 PM EDT (19:26 UTC)
- Lifted
- 3:29 PM EDT (19:29 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 1.2 miles (1.9 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $55,000
- County
- Oneida County
- Touchdown point
- 43.354, -75.535
- Lift-off point
- 43.357, -75.511
- Record number
- 2106031326-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A cold front passed through Central New York which triggered isolated thunderstorms, some of which became severe. One storm produced a tornado that took the roof off of a barn and moved the barn off of its foundation. The tornado also knocked down several trees as it passed through a yard and into a state forest.
A tornado touched down near a barn off of Sulphur Springs Road. The tornado tore down several trees in multiple directions along a visible path. Then it lifted off the roof of the barn with the structure collapsing on itself. Additional damage included the barn shifting off of it's foundation. Trees were also snapped high up. The tornado proceeded through West Branch State Forest with intermediate damage before lifting as it reached Harris Road.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:17 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:38 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), 12:00Z
7.4 hours before the tornado, 156 km from the path. June 3, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -87370 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1128 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 164 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 211 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.8 K/km
Albany, NY (KALY), 00:00Z
4.6 hours after it, 156 km from the path. June 4, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 174 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -41 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 226 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 845 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 204 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 218 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.2 K/km
The surface observations
Griffiss AFB / Rome (RME), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:30 UTC | 210° 8 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 17:35 UTC | 200° 11 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 17:40 UTC | 200° 9 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 17:45 UTC | 200° 10 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 17:50 UTC | 210° 11 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 17:53 UTC | 72 | 61 | 200° 8 kt | 17 | 1012.5 | |
| 17:55 UTC | 190° 8 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 18:00 UTC | 200° 7 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 18:05 UTC | 200° 5 kt | 1012.5 | -RA | |||
| 18:10 UTC | 200° 5 kt | 1012.5 | -RA | |||
| 18:15 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 18:20 UTC | 190° 7 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 18:25 UTC | 190° 8 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 18:30 UTC | 190° 10 kt | 1012.2 | RA | |||
| 18:35 UTC | 200° 9 kt | 1012.2 | -RA | |||
| 18:40 UTC | 210° 7 kt | 1012.2 | -RA | |||
| 18:45 UTC | 200° 5 kt | 1012.2 | -RA | |||
| 18:50 UTC | 190° 10 kt | 16 | 1012.2 | -RA | ||
| 18:53 UTC | 69 | 64 | 200° 9 kt | 17 | 1012.2 | -RA |
| 19:00 UTC | 210° 5 kt | 1012.2 | -RA | |||
| 19:05 UTC | 220° 4 kt | 1011.9 | ||||
| 19:10 UTC | 220° 4 kt | 1011.9 | ||||
| 19:15 UTC | 210° 2 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 19:20 UTC | 180° 4 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 19:25 UTC | 170° 4 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 19:30 UTC | 160° 4 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 19:35 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 19:40 UTC | 170° 4 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 19:45 UTC | 190° 7 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 19:50 UTC | 190° 7 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 19:53 UTC | 73 | 64 | 190° 8 kt | 1011.2 | ||
| 20:00 UTC | 200° 9 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 20:05 UTC | 210° 10 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 20:10 UTC | 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 20:15 UTC | 13 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 20:20 UTC | 320° 11 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 20:25 UTC | 320° 10 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 20:30 UTC | 320° 10 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 20:35 UTC | 320° 11 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 20:40 UTC | 320° 7 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 20:45 UTC | 330° 8 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 20:50 UTC | 330° 7 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 20:53 UTC | 69 | 63 | 340° 7 kt | 1011.2 | ||
| 20:55 UTC | 330° 5 kt | 1011.2 | RA | |||
| 21:00 UTC | 330° 7 kt | 1011.2 | +RA | |||
| 21:05 UTC | 340° 7 kt | 1011.2 | -RA | |||
| 21:10 UTC | 340° 7 kt | 1011.2 | -RA | |||
| 21:15 UTC | 320° 5 kt | 1011.2 | -RA | |||
| 21:20 UTC | 300° 5 kt | 1011.5 | +RA | |||
| 21:25 UTC | 68 | 64 | 300° 3 kt | 1011.5 | +RA BR | |
| 21:25 UTC | 300° 2 kt | 1011.5 | +RA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Ft Drum radar (KTYX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:24 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:26 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sse Point Rock | Oneida, NY | AN EF-1 TORNADO WITH MAX WINDS OF 95 MPH STRUCK A BARN OFF OF SULPHUR SPRINGS ROAD AND MOVED INTO WEST BRANCH STATE FOREST BEFORE LIFTING ALONG HARRIS ROAD. |
| 19:32 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lee Center | Oneida, NY | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 2 ENE LEE. TWITTER PHOTOS OF A BARN DESTROYED AND A LARGE TREE SNAPPED WEST OF ROUTE 26 IN LEE CENTER. LOCATION AND TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR, BUT EXACT LOCATION AND TIME IS UNK |
| 19:43 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ene Lee | Oneida, NY | TWITTER PHOTOS OF A BARN DESTROYED AND A LARGE TREE SNAPPED WEST OF ROUTE 26 IN LEE CENTER. LOCATION AND TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR, BUT EXACT LOCATION AND TIME IS UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 3, 2021
2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.