Saturday's Severe Weather

Severe thunderstorms roared across the Twin Tiers late Saturday afternoon along with a cold front. Some of the storms produced 80 mph winds, hail the size of a quarter, and even tornadoes. Three tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service this evening, two of which occurred in the Twin Tiers. One was in Cuyler of Cortland County, the other was 2 miles to the North of Waverly in Tioga County. Below is a summary from the National Weather Service.

...TORNADO CONFIRMED IN CUYLER NEW YORK...

LOCATION...CUYLER...CORTLAND COUNTY NY
DATE...MAY 16TH 2009
ESTIMATED TIME...424 PM
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...70 TO 80 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...75 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...0.4 MILES
BEGINNING/ENDING LAT/LON...42.72N / 75.90W

...SUMMARY...
SOME TREES UPROOTED AND TWO SMALL SHEDS DESTROYED. GREATER DAMAGE OCCURRED TO THE WEST AT A COUPLE OF FARMS AND SEVERAL RESIDENCES BETWEEN TRUXTON AND CUYLER WHICH WAS DETERMINED TO BE CAUSED
BY STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

...A NWS STORM SURVEY TEAM SURVEYED STORM DAMAGE IN SOUTHEASTCHEMUNG AND SOUTHWEST TIOGA COUNTIES SUNDAY AFTERNOON...

A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY TEAM EXAMINED DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THAT TRACKED ACROSS SOUTHEAST CHEMUNG AND SOUTHWEST TIOGA COUNTIES SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THE TEAM DETERMINED THAT A SEVERE THUNDERTORM PRODUCED ISOLATED STRAIGHT-LINE
WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST CHEMUNG COUNTY BETWEEN 445 AND 500 PM ON SATURDAY... MAY 16TH. SOME OF THE DAMAGE THAT WAS OBSERVED WITH THIS STORM INCLUDED DAMAGE TO THE ROOF OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING ON WYNKOOP CREEK ROAD AND EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE
ALONG A PORTION OF WEST DRYBROOK ROAD. BOTH OF THESE AREAS WERE NORTH OF THE TOWN OF CHEMUNG.

THE STORM CONTINUED EAST... AND PRODUCED A BRIEF EF0 TORNADO TOUCHDOWN NEAR ROUTE 34 ABOUT 2 MILES NORTH OF WAVERLY IN SOUTHWEST TIOGA COUNTY. THE DETERMINATION OF A TORNADO WAS BASED ON EYE WITNESS REPORTS AND A SMALL AREA OF CONVERGENT WIND DAMAGE. ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS WITH THIS TORNADO WERE AROUND 60 MPH. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG ROUTE 34 AT ABOUT 5 PM. THE TORNADO
TRACKED NORTHEAST... AND WAS ON THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES. THE PATH LENGTH OF THE TORNADO WAS AROUND A QUARTER OF A MILE... AND THE WIDTH WAS ABOUT 30 YARDS.