EF1 tornado, Genesee County, New York, September 2, 2026

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

September 2, 2026

Touchdown

7:29 PM EDT (23:29 UTC)

Lifted

7:35 PM EDT (23:35 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

3.8 miles (6.1 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Genesee County

Touchdown point

42.910, -78.205

Lift-off point

42.871, -78.153

Highest wind the damage implies

110 mph

Surveyed by

NWS BUF

The office's name for it

20260902_Alexander

Survey last edited

September 3, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo investigated storm-related damage from a bowing line of thunderstorms that ended up producing an EF-1 tornado during the evening of September 2nd with estimated peak winds of 110 mph that affected the area east of Alexander, NY near Route 20.

Initial damage from the tornado was noted in a corn field north of Route 20 both north and south of Browns Mill Road. Downed corn crops displayed a convergent pattern with an initial path width paced at 70 yards. Nearby, additional tree damage was observed with multiple tree branches broken and one large tree trunk snapped. The damage path continued southeast toward W Bethany Road where broken tree branches and additional convergent signatures within a corn field were observed both east and west of the roadway immediately north of Route 20. In the distance, uprooted and leaning trees with branches broken were observed along the same path south of Route 20.

Farther to the southeast, the survey team found similar tree damage along Silver Road and Mill Road. A higher density of downed and snapped trees were observed near a residence along Mill Road. This included a dense cluster of large locust tree trunks snapped with a convergent pattern that led to the high-end EF-1 rating for this tornado. Sporadic tree damage continued near Linden and along Skates Hill Road just north of the Genesee-Wyoming County Line.

Written by NWS BUF in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

15 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BUF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Numerous tree branches broken near Linden Road and Skates Hill Road.
• Numerous tree branches broken east of Skates Hill Road just north of the Genesee/Wyoming County line.
• Multiple tree trunks snapped near Browns Mill Road. Additional swath of downed corn crop noted immediately north of the road.
• Tree trunk snapped near residence east of Mill Road. No damage reported at residence.

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

34 minutes of warning. NWS BUF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:55 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:41 UTC and running to 02:09 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. 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 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 Buffalo radar (KBUF), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:27 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 2026 tornado in New YorkEvery tornado in New York since 1950Warnings in force in New York nowThe forecast where you are

8 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

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.

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.