Tornadoes · United States · New York · 2026
EF0 tornado, Cattaraugus County, New York, April 15, 2026
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Cattaraugus County on April 15, 2026, touching down at 4:16 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS BUF's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.
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 survey
- Rating, as surveyed
- EF0, preliminary
- Date
- April 15, 2026
- Touchdown
- 4:16 PM EDT (20:16 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:18 PM EDT (20:18 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.4 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Cattaraugus County
- Touchdown point
- 42.362, -78.379
- Lift-off point
- 42.364, -78.376
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 80 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS BUF
- Survey last edited
- April 18, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
The damage survey
8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BUF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 83 mph.
- Many uprooted trees revealed by drove overflight
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:47 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BUF |
| 23:06 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BUF |
| 23:57 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BUF |
| 00:10 UTC | 00:26 UTC | Tornado Warning | BUF |
| 00:44 UTC | 01:16 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BUF |
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 19:55 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.
Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), 12:00Z
8.3 hours before the tornado, 68 km from the path. April 15, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 9 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -104 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 91 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 793 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 299 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 314 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.6 K/km
The surface observations
Olean (OLE), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:35 UTC | 73.4 | 51.8 | 0° 0 kt | 1013.2 | ||
| 18:55 UTC | 73.4 | 53.6 | 210° 7 kt | 1013.2 | ||
| 19:15 UTC | 75.2 | 53.6 | 210° 4 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 19:35 UTC | 73.4 | 53.6 | 260° 6 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 19:55 UTC | 75.2 | 55.4 | 250° 3 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 20:15 UTC | 75.2 | 55.4 | 250° 5 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 20:35 UTC | 73.4 | 55.4 | 250° 4 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 20:55 UTC | 73.4 | 53.6 | 250° 4 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 21:15 UTC | 69.8 | 57.2 | 290° 3 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 21:35 UTC | 69.8 | 55.4 | 0° 0 kt | 1012.9 | -DZ | |
| 21:55 UTC | 64.4 | 57.2 | 320° 4 kt | 1013.2 | VCTSRA | |
| 22:15 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 310° 3 kt | 1013.5 | -VCTSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:15 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 15, 2026
6 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.
Sources
NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.