TornadoVideos.net

Posted By Joe Surfer | August 8, 2007 @ 5:20 PM #

NWS: F2 Tornado Confirmed In Brooklyn

Twister First Ever To Strike Borough In Recorded History

(CBS) NEW YORK What was thought to be a violently windy thunderstorm that plowed through Brooklyn Wednesday morning turned out to be a weather event of historical proportions.

The National Weather Service confirmed that the storm brought with it Brooklyn's first ever tornado since such weather events were recorded. Officials measured it to be an EF2 twister, characterized by winds of anywhere from 111 to 135 miles per hour.

A tornado warning had been issued in Brooklyn from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m., and during that time a severe thunderstorm blew through the region, making for an incredible headache for morning commuters. Thousands of New Yorkers found themselves enduring hours of delays in the sweltering heat with subways shut down and vacant taxi cabs hard to come by.

A woman on Staten Island died in a car accident which officials say was a result of the horrible driving conditions. In Brooklyn, amazingly, only scattered minor injuries were reported.

Still, the tornado certainly rattled bones as well as bricks, especially in Bay Ridge.

"About 6:35 this morning it sounded like a freight rain coming down the driveway. The house was shaking and people were screaming," said Linda Mantia, who lives in the Bay Ridge section.

"I just wanted to lay down and die," Brooklyn resident May Johnson told CBS 2.

Eric Casanova couldn't believe what he saw out his window. "I looked out my window and the trees looked like dandelions. They were flowing all over the place," he said. "They say you get 15 minutes of fame, here in Bay Ridge it's 15 minutes of history."

Not only is the tornado the first ever in recorded history to touch down in Brooklyn, it's also the first to hit a New York City borough since 1995, when a twister struck Staten Island.

Outside of those two, there have been only two other tornadoes to strike New York City. The first touched down in Queens in 1985 and the second in Staten Island in 1990.

The measurement of tornadoes did not begin until 1950. Before that, only temperatures were recorded.

Posted By Joe Surfer | August 8, 2007 @ 5:54 PM #

Not to overdo it with the Brooklyn EF2 material, but the NY Daily News has a good slideshow showing some of the structural damage. Click on the photo of the damaged house to launch slideshow.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/08/2007-08-08_tornado_rips_through_bklyn.html

Posted By Jonathan | August 8, 2007 @ 6:31 PM #

oops....i meant 2005. lol. i gotta work on my typing :P

Posted By Joe Surfer | August 8, 2007 @ 6:56 PM #

Here's 17 seconds of video but you can't see much

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jgz5KMi2U0

Posted By Matt | August 8, 2007 @ 7:16 PM #

Its moving but not very fast at the moment. Its not a supercell but im not sure if will get stronger and become a supercell not sure at this moment

Posted By Matt | August 8, 2007 @ 7:35 PM #

Man this day started out so boring and now funilly some action.

Posted By caleb | August 8, 2007 @ 7:39 PM #

how do u virtual chase?

Posted By Andrew | August 8, 2007 @ 8:18 PM #

Caleb,

I "virtual chase" by looking at models the night before and the morning of, and choosing a location where, if I were a real chaser, I would go to find good storms. Then I just watch radar, lol. More often than not I'm wrong, but it is fun practice for the real thing.

Unfortunately, for a real chaser, even if they put themselves in the right spot for storms, there are a million other things that could go wrong and ruin their day, which is what makes "virtual chasing" so EASY, lol.

Posted By Heidi | August 8, 2007 @ 9:06 PM #

That MCS in the northwest Missouri area is pretty massive. I know I'm not going to be banned for saying it, though, because I didn't put the words IOWA and MCS together simultaneously. He-he! This looks like some of those MCS that tore through Texas this past Spring. ... I wish we'd get some of it, but it won't happen. Stupid ridge!

Posted By Andrew | August 9, 2007 @ 5:56 AM #

Reed,

Blog post soon about Friday's set-up for ND/SD???

The hatched area in the SPC outlook got my attention and some of the model data look pretty amazing.

I apologize, I always do this and get way too excited before the fact, but I haven't seen a Day 2 hatched area in an SPC outlook for a long time.