EF1 tornado, Seneca 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

8:21 PM EDT (00:21 UTC)

Lifted

8:34 PM EDT (00:34 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

6.7 miles (10.7 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Seneca County

Touchdown point

42.922, -76.923

Lift-off point

42.919, -76.799

Highest wind the damage implies

95 mph

Surveyed by

NWS BGM

Survey last edited

September 5, 2026

Record number

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

A line of severe thunderstorms moved into Seneca County well after sunset Wednesday evening September 2, 2026 and produced both intense winds and a pair of embedded tornadoes.

The severe line of storms pushed out into a bow echo of damaging winds, with a bookend vortex on the north side of the bow signature. An initial tornado formed in the center of the broader rotation of the bookend vortex, a few miles west-northwest of Waterloo. A chaotic pattern of oppositionally-facing downed trees and branches became more evident by the time the tornado crossed Hecker Road, reaching EF1 strength up to 95 mph while proceeding across Maple Grove Cemetery and tracking into the village. Despite the track center itself remaining north of US20, including skimming the Seneca County Office Building; inflow winds towards the tornado and then intense downdraft winds behind it caused significant tree damage throughout Waterloo including even south of the Seneca River. As these winds raced ahead to the south, the tornado remained on the north side of US20 while striking a commercial frame

tent near the Seneca Falls border, with 750 pound concrete weights that were thrown and 6 inch thick poles that were bent and scattered. The tornado then occluded and weakened while peeling east-northeast

into the north side of Seneca Falls before ending. Meanwhile, an even stronger tornado spun up about 5 miles south of the first one, which tracked across most of the width of Seneca County.

The National Weather Service thanks Seneca County Emergency Management for their invaluable assistance, including providing drone images, and interacting with impacted residents during the survey. Much gratitude is also extended to residents providing their accounts and allowing access to damaged areas.

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

29 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BGM, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Numerous large branches snapped and chaotic fashion, with several small missile branches and a few large missiles.
• Damage to Seneca office building, ceiling panels of entrance overhang ripped out. Numerous large branches broken at bases from several trees.
• Large limbs being cleaned up at this location
• Very large and healthy up route facing North Northeast, Land landed on house with roof damage. Other chaotic converging up roots.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:18 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:41 UTC and running to 02:12 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.

Skaneateles (6B9), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:21 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.