Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2023
EF0 tornado, Dryden, New York, August 7, 2023
This EF0 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Tompkins County on August 7, 2023, touching down at 5:13 PM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
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
- EF0
- Date
- August 7, 2023
- Touchdown
- 5:13 PM EDT (21:13 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 1.4 miles (2.3 km)
- Path width
- 200 yards (183 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- County
- Tompkins County
- Touchdown point
- 42.444, -76.269
- Lift-off point
- 42.462, -76.257
- Record number
- 2308071513-01
The damage survey
38 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BGM, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.
- Combination of trees uprooted and weaker snaps.
- Fencing around pool knocked over
- Touchdown point. Some large branches down and wires down.
- A mix of uproots and weaker snaps.
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 near the intersection of Route 38 and Purvis Road in far eastern Tompkins County and knocked down some trees near the border of Tompkins and Cortland County. It then continued in Cortland County for many miles, finally lifting in a wooded area between West River Road and the Tioughnioga River ||At the time that the tornado touched down in Tompkins County, it was an EF-0, but it became an EF-1 in Cortland County. The majority of damage occurred in Cortland County.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:27 UTC | 21:00 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 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), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ene Virgil | Cortland, NY | Roof blown off barn. Multiple trees down. |
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Virgil | Cortland, NY | Spotter observed tree damage occurring. |
| 21:30 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Ssw Mcgraw | Cortland, NY | A tornado touched down near the intersection of Route 38 and Purvis Road in far eastern Tompkins County. It then moved northeastward through a mostly wooded area from Harford to Virgil. The most widespread damage was fou |
| 21:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Virgil | Cortland, NY | Multiple trees down, trailer flipped, roof damage to some out-buildings. |
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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 7 | 2:17 PM EDT | EF2 | Knox, TN | 3.7 | 200 | $3.7 million | ||
| August 7 | 2:48 PM EDT | EF1 | Yancey, NC | 6.2 | 50 | |||
| August 7 | 2:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Lawrence, KY to WV | 6.3 | 400 | $23,000 | ||
| August 7 | 4:40 PM EDT | EF1 | Catawba, NC | 36.2 | 550 | $100,000 | ||
| August 7 | 5:02 PM EDT | EF1 | York, PA | 0.5 | 75 | $25,000 | ||
| August 7 | 5:07 PM EDT | EF0 | Mecklenburg, NC | 2.0 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| August 7 | 5:17 PM EDT | EF1 | Cortland, NY | 9.7 | 200 | $15,000 | ||
| August 7 | 5:24 PM EDT | EF1 | York, PA | 1.5 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| August 7 | 4:35 PM CDT | Unrated | Cheyenne, KS | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| August 7 | 5:40 PM EDT | EF0 | Lancaster, PA | 0.5 | 40 | |||
| August 7 | 6:25 PM EDT | EF1 | Susquehanna, PA | 1.4 | 200 | $5,000 | ||
| August 7 | 6:29 PM EDT | EF1 | Broome, NY | 2.0 | 200 | $15,000 | ||
| August 7 | 6:55 PM EDT | EF0 | Madison, NY | 1.5 | 175 | $10,000 | ||
| August 7 | 7:10 PM EDT | EF1 | Oneida, NY | 1.3 | 200 | $10,000 | ||
| August 7 | 7:17 PM EDT | EF1 | Oneida, NY | 1.4 | 110 | $25,000 | ||
| August 7 | 7:21 PM EDT | EF1 | Lehigh, PA | 0.3 | 160 | |||
| August 7 | 7:27 PM EDT | Unrated | Lewis, NY | 0.8 | 100 | $5,000 | ||
| August 7 | 7:37 PM EDT | EF0 | Hunterdon, NJ | 0.5 | 150 | |||
| August 7 | 7:42 PM EDT | EF3 | Lewis, NY | 16.0 | 700 | $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.