Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2023

EF0 tornado, Pratts Hollow to Munnsville, New York, August 7, 2023

From Pratts Hollow to Munnsville, this EF0 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Madison County on August 7, 2023, touching down at 6:55 PM EDT and reaching 175 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
August 7, 2023
Touchdown
6:55 PM EDT (22:55 UTC)
Lifted
6:59 PM EDT (22:59 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
175 yards (160 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Madison County
Touchdown point
42.940, -75.580
Lift-off point
42.960, -75.570
Record number
2308071655-01

The damage survey

33 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BGM, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado outbreak occurred across Central New York during the afternoon and evening hours. Strong shear supported multiple rotating thunderstorms. While damaging wind gusts were a hazard, tornadoes were the main concern. Multiple NWS surveys were performed over a couple of days to confirm a total of five tornadoes. Surveyed damage included downed trees and wires as well as structure damage to multiple residences. Fortunately, no one was injured or killed during these storms.

A tornado touched down on Bear Path Road then moved northeast onto Morris Road before lifting. Numerous trees had branches snapped in different directions. Damage to a door on a shed also occurred.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:51 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:55 UTC and running to 01:41 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:51 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGM
21:55 UTC01:41 UTCTornado WatchBGM
21:58 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGM
22:15 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGM
22:48 UTC23:11 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGM
22:51 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningBGM
23:08 UTC23:53 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 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 radar

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:53 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sw West EatonMadison, NYTrees and wires down on road. Boat flipped upside down.
22:48 UTCTSTM WND DMGConstantiaOswego, NYTrees and wires down.
22:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S MunnsvilleMadison, NYTree down, house damage.
22:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGMorrisvilleMadison, NYIn Pine Woods, NY. Trees and wires down. Part of metal roof ripped off. Metal sheds flipped over. Hay wagons moved. Time estimated from radar.
22:55 UTCTORNADOMunnsvilleMadison, NYTornado touched down on Bear Path Road and moved northeast onto Morris Road.
22:56 UTCTSTM WND DMGMunnsvilleMadison, NYApproximately 50 trees down, some on a house. Other sporadic trees down nearby with damage to a barn roof.
22:56 UTCTSTM WND DMGWilliamstownOswego, NYTree down.
22:56 UTCTSTM WND DMGWilliamstownOswego, NYTree down.
22:56 UTCTSTM WND DMGWilliamstownOswego, NYTree down.
23:10 UTCTORNADOVernonOneida, NYNumerous Trees downed and uprooted from College Hill Road to Seneca Turnpike.
23:12 UTCTSTM WND DMGTabergOneida, NYMultiple trees down.
23:17 UTCTORNADOTabergOneida, NYA EF-1 Tornado touched down on Coal Hill road. The tornado then tracked over Grission Lane with many trees uprooted. The tornado then lifted as it reached the intersection with Slater road.
23:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Wnw West LeydenLewis, NYMultiple trees down.
23:42 UTCTORNADO2 Wnw West LeydenLewis, NYStart of tornadic damage along Mud Lake Road west of West Leyden.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 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 7, 2023

19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 72:17 PM EDTEF2Knox, TN3.7200$3.7 million
August 72:48 PM EDTEF1Yancey, NC6.250
August 72:00 PM CDTEF1Lawrence, KY to WV6.3400$23,000
August 74:40 PM EDTEF1Catawba, NC36.2550$100,000
August 75:02 PM EDTEF1York, PA0.575$25,000
August 75:07 PM EDTEF0Mecklenburg, NC2.050$20,000
August 75:13 PM EDTEF0Tompkins, NY1.4200$5,000
August 75:17 PM EDTEF1Cortland, NY9.7200$15,000
August 75:24 PM EDTEF1York, PA1.550$10,000
August 74:35 PM CDTUnratedCheyenne, KS0.275
August 75:40 PM EDTEF0Lancaster, PA0.540
August 76:25 PM EDTEF1Susquehanna, PA1.4200$5,000
August 76:29 PM EDTEF1Broome, NY2.0200$15,000
August 77:10 PM EDTEF1Oneida, NY1.3200$10,000
August 77:17 PM EDTEF1Oneida, NY1.4110$25,000
August 77:21 PM EDTEF1Lehigh, PA0.3160
August 77:27 PM EDTUnratedLewis, NY0.8100$5,000
August 77:37 PM EDTEF0Hunterdon, NJ0.5150
August 77:42 PM EDTEF3Lewis, NY16.0700$1.5 million

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.