EF2 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2, preliminary

Date

September 2, 2026

Touchdown

8:23 PM EDT (00:23 UTC)

Lifted

8:36 PM EDT (00:36 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

7.8 miles (12.5 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Seneca County

Touchdown point

42.834, -76.913

Lift-off point

42.829, -76.763

Highest wind the damage implies

115 mph

Surveyed by

NWS BGM

Survey last edited

September 4, 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.

In the very highly sheared and unstable environment, a second circulation quickly picked up roughly 5 miles south of the first one, and rapidly intensified into an even stronger tornado with nearly immediate destruction to a garage and sheds of a residence on Post Road. Radar itself soon confirmed debris lofting as high as 11,000 feet as the tornado strengthened to EF2 with winds up to 115 mph, tracking east across much of the County. Despite occurring after nightfall, the nearly constant lightning revealed the funnel to many eyewitnesses as it approached. Several barns and outbuildings were severely damaged, leveled, or even lofted with damage strewn many hundreds of yards. Peak intensity occurred at a farm property along Watts Road, with a heifer barn destroyed while sending missiles of debris impaling into a house and smashing windows. A large swirling path could be found imprinted in cornfields both west and east of that property. The tornado nearly paralleled Leader road while heavily damaging additional farms and snapping numerous power poles. The tornado was finally overtaken by the severe winds immediately behind it, weakening as it crossed Seybolt Road before ending. Severe damaging thunderstorm winds then continued across Seneca Lake including the Union Springs area of Cayuga County.

The National Weather Service thanks Seneca County Emergency Management for their invaluable assistance, including interacting with impacted residents during the survey. Much gratitude is also extended to residents providing their accounts and allowing access to damaged areas, especially Amish and Mennonite community members heavily impacted by the EF2 tornado. Appreciation also goes out to Cayuga County Emergency Services for additional insights about scattered wind damage in the Union Springs area.

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.

5 minutes of warning. NWS BGM issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:18 UTC, 5 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.

Penn Yan (PEO), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 99 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.