A ‘rare day’ for tornado activity in the Adirondacks

Hamilton County hit by two tornadoes on Tuesday; Chestertown and Great Sacandaga areas also impacted

By Patrick Tine, Times Union

 The storms that caused immense damage in central New York before lashing the Capital Region Tuesday produced at least four tornadoes in Warren, Oneida and Hamilton counties, all touching down within a short window between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., according to National Weather Service confirmation.

A fifth tornado may have formed near Great Sacandaga Lake on the border of Saratoga and Warren counties, but weather service experts have not been able to get to the area to assess the damage.

Three confirmed EF1 tornadoes in the greater Adirondack region touched down between 4:29 p.m. and 5:22 p.m. Tuesday. Both tornadoes in Hamilton County, one which hit near the town of Wells and the other in Oxbow Lake, had maximum winds of 100 mph. The Oxbow Lake tornado caused minor damage to homes and utility buildings, according to data compiled by the weather service. The Wells tornado left a 300-yard swath of downed trees in its wake, the weather service said. 

Photos: Storm damage in Piseco

Photos by Arietta Hallock

The tornado in Warren County that briefly hit Chestertown was weaker, an EF-0 with maximum winds of 85 mph, but it still downed several trees and utility poles. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s unprecedented but it’s certainly rare to have three confirmed tornadoes in one day,” said Joe Villani, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany. “It was unusual. A rare day in upstate New York.” 

The fifth suspected tornado is believed to have hit the northeast end of Great Sacandaga Lake between Edinburg and Conklingville. “If you drew a straight line between those two towns, it’s right in the middle,” Villani said. 

Two days later, the area is still impassible. Villani described that part of the lakeshore as an area of concern with extensive damage.

“There’s no path, no way anywhere near there,” he said. 

Experts look at trees to determine whether an area was struck by a tornado rather than simply strong wind. In microburst storms and other severe but more routine events, trees tend to be bent in one direction. Tree limbs twisted in all directions with trees sometimes sheared from the earth are the telltale signs of a tornado, Villani said. 

He said that corroborated video footage taken can be helpful in determining whether a tornado touched down, but on-the-ground assessments are always necessary to assess a tornado’s strength. 

The tornado that struck Rome at 3:25 p.m. Tuesday was considerably more powerful and longer-lasting than the tornadoes that struck the eastern part of the state. With winds of 135 mph, the storm was at the highest end of the E2 rating and lasted for 10 minutes as it moved for more than five miles on the ground, Villani said.