TORNADOS IN NEW YORK CITY ----------------------- John Pazmino NYSkies Astronomy Inc www.nyskies.org nyskies@nyskies.org 2007 August 14 initial 2010 September 26 current
Introduction ---------- Updated roster of tornados in New York City and adjacent counties since 1950. I removed Putnam county, New York, becuae it is not really adjacent to the City. I now list the dates with the month in letters. A few readers tried decoding the dates by the oldstyle folded fields. The official catalog of tornados in the US is maintained by NOAA at its Storm Prediction Center. It assigned serial numbers, starting with tornados in 1950. By 2010 this would reach beyond 53,000. These I list in the first column in the table here. For what ever reason, SPC stopped assigning these index numbers a couple years ago. SPC issues a new index number that cycles thru each year with the caution that this number is not permanently attached to a given tornado. They are shuffled as tornado records are revised. I do not list this SPC index number here. In addition, SPC cautions that the roster of tornados is always subject to revision as storm reports are reviewed in future years and new data are received. The result is that the table has incomplete NWS index numbers, making it harder to seek details for a given entry. The Tornado History Project also ran into this situation about the NWS and SPC index numbers. In its database, which is an elaboration of the PSC set, it assigns a unique identifier number. If later a tornaod is removed, its number is replaced by a note about the removal. New tornado turning up in future years get IDs interclated into the older ones. I now give the THP identifiers in the second column, where they can key into the database at 'www.tornadohistoryproject.com'. The column are: -------------------------------- NWS = NWS tornado catalog number THP = THP tornado indec number F = Fujita strength rating f = fatalities caused by tornado ----------------------------------- Prior to 1950, reports of 'tornados' in and around the City may not describe real tornados, but exaggerated winds or strong gust. This us one main reason a reported tornado is later removed from the databases. Tornados hitting multiple states are lidted under each state. ----------------------------------------- NWS THP Date F f County ----- ---------- ---------- - - ----------------- Connecticut ----------- --- 1950.09.02 1950-Jul-14 2 0 Fairfield 4099 1958.09.01 1958-Aug-15 1 0 Fairfield 10847 1968.36.02 1968-Aug-09 1 0 Fairfield, Putnam NY 12910 1971.09.01 1971-Jul-19 2 0 Fairfield 14801 1973.09.07 1973-Sep-18 1 0 Fairfield 29212 1990.09.01 1990-Jun-29 0 0 Fairfield 31372 1992.09.01 1992-Jul-05 0 0 Fairfield 31558 1992.09.03 1992-Aug-04 1 0 Fairfield 36126 1996.09.02 1996-Jul-09 1 0 Fairfield 43185 2002.09.01 2002-May-31 1 0 Fairfield --- 2006.36.04 2006-Jul-12 1 0 Fairfield, Westchester NY --- 2007.09.01 2007-May-16 1 0 Fairfield --- 2009.09.02 2009-Jul-31 1 0 Fairfield --- ---- 2010-Jun-24 1 0 Fairfield
New Jersey ----------- 559 1952.34.01 1952-Apr-05 1 0 Union 678 ---- 1952-Aug-10 1 0 Monmouth &a 2227 ---- 1955-Oct-16 2 0 Monmouth 2713 1956.34.04 1956-Sep-06 2 0 Bergen --- ---- 1960-Apr-18 1 0 Mpmmouth 6690 1962.34.03 1962-Aug-07 2 0 Bergen --- ---- 1964-Mar-10 1 0 Mommouth 7280 ---- 1964-Mar-26 0 0 Monmouth 12048 1970.34.01 1970-Jul-15 2 0 Bergen 12909 1971.34.02 1971-Jul-19 1 0 Bergen 14633 1973.34.06 1973-Jun-29 1 0 Union 16645 1975.34.03 1975-Jul-13 1 0 Bergen 17542 ---- 1976-Jul-07 1 0 Hudson 25365 1985.34.02 1985-Oct-05 1 0 Middlesex, Union 26603 1987.34.03 1987-Jul-14 0 0 Union 26604 1987.34.04 1987-Jul-14 0 0 Middlesex 26661 1987.34.08 1987-Jul-26 1 0 Union 27038 1988.34.01 1988-May-23 0 0 Union 28191 ---- 1989-Jul-10 0 0 Bergen 28261 ---- 1989-Aug-29 0 0 Middlesex 28365 1989.34.14 1989-Nov-16 0 0 Middlesex 28367 1989.34.15 1989-Nov-16 1 0 Bergen 28368 1989.34.16 1989-Nov-16 0 0 Union 29456 1990.34.06 1990-Oct-18 0 0 Union 31466 1992.34.02 1992-Jul-15 0 0 Union 31545 1992.34.04 1992-Jul-31 1 0 Middlesex 32439 1993.34.01 1993-Jun-09 0 0 Middlesex 33922 1994.34.05 1994-Jul-26 1 0 Union 34160 ---- 1994-Nov-01 0 0 Monmouth 36383 1996.34.02 1996-Sep-08 0 0 Middlesex 37522 ---- 1997-Aug-13 0 0 Monmouth 38978 1998.34.02 1998-Sep-07 1 0 Union 38977 1998.34.03 1998-Sep-07 0 0 Union 41974 ---- 2001-May-27 2 0 Monmouth 45072 2003.34.07 2003-Oct-27 0 0 Middlesex
New York City ------------- --- ---- 1974-Sep-02 0 0 Bronx 25367 1985.36.08 1985-Oct-05 1 0 Queens 29342 1990.36.08 1990-Aug-10 0 0 Richmond --- ---- 1995-Aug-31 0 0 New York 35337 1995.36.06 1995-Oct-28 1 0 Richmond 45073 2003.36.18 2003-Oct-27 0 0 Richmond --- 2007.36.03 2007-Aug-08 2 0 Kings, Richmond --- ---- 2010-Jul-25 0 0 Bronx --- ---- 2010-Sep-16 1 0 Kings --- ---- 2010-Sep-16 1 1 Queens
Long Island ----------- 4123 1958.36.02 1958-Sep-08 0 0 Suffolk 12186 1970.36.04 1970-Sep-27 2 0 Nassau 14798 1973.36.05 1973-Sep-18 1 0 Suffolk 14799 1973.36.06 1973-Sep-18 2 0 Nassau --- 1976.36.03 1976-Jun-01 0 0 Nassau --- 1978.36.08 1978-Aug-12 0 0 Nassau 19971 1979.36.03 1979-Aug-10 1 0 Suffolk 21721 1981.36.01 1981-Aug-05 1 0 Suffolk 22714 1982.36.03 1982-Aug-25 0 0 Suffolk 25317 1985.36.06 1985-Aug-30 1 0 Suffolk 28190 1989.36.05 1989-Jul-10 2 0 Suffolk 30566 1991.36.09 1991-Aug-19 1 0 Suffolk 30567 1991.36.10 1991-Aug-19 1 0 Suffolk 35141 1995.36.03 1995-Jul-23 1 0 Nassau 35142 1995.36.04 1995-Jul-23 0 0 Suffolk --- 1997.36.01 1997-Jin-26 0 0 Suffolk 38804 1998.36.16 1998-Jun-30 1 0 Suffolk 38805 1998.36.17 1998-Jun-30 0 0 Suffolk 38813 1998.36.18 1998-Jun-30 1 0 Suffolk 38979 1998.36.19 1998-Sep-07 2 0 Nassau 40352 1999.36.01 1999-Aug-08 2 0 Suffolk 41423 2000.36.05 2000-Sep-15 1 0 Suffolk 42287 2001.36.02 2001-Jun-30 0 0 Suffolk 42288 2001.36.03 2001-Jun-30 0 0 Suffolk --- 2005.36-04 2005-Aug-12 0 0 Nassau --- 2006.36.08 2006-Aug-25 0 0 Nassau, Suffolk --- 2007.36.02 2007-Jul-18 1 0 Suffolk
Metro North ----------- 10847 1968.36.02 1968-Aug-09 1 0 Putnam, Fairfield CT 12960 1971.36.03 1971-Aug-11 1 0 Westchester 15848 1974.36.06 1974-Sep-01 1 0 Westchester 18469 1977.36.05 1977-Sep-26 ? 0 Westchester --- 1989.36.08 1989-Nov-16 0 0 Westchestr 30356 1991.36.08 1991-Jun-12 0 1 Westchester 31677 1992.36.02 1992-Sep-03 0 0 Westchester 41083 2000.36.04 2000-Jun-02 1 0 Westchester --- 2006.36.04 2006-Jul-12 2 0 Westchester, Fairfield CT --------------------------------------------------------------