Severe storms trudged across the Northeast Thursday, leaving a swath of damage in its wake. Though the storms weakened as they approached Long Island, residents saw their fair share of fierce weather.
An area of thunderstorms gained strength from around Erie, PA, into Ohio by midday Thursday. As it traveled east into NY and PA, the first tornado warnings of the day were issued. The line of thunderstorms developed into a derecho (it will be considered as such here, by definition) and was headed nearly due east into the afternoon, and hit central Upstate New York and central Pennsylvania. The tornado warnings continued, especially for cities like Elmira and Binghamton in New York and Williamsport in Pennsylvania. Extensive damage was reported in Elmira, and a tornado was suspected. Warnings continued as the derecho moved east and reached the Hudson River by 7 p.m.
A part of the storm, responsible for wind gusts over 50 mph in the Hudson Valley, became a bow echo and stretched southward to clip parts of the north shore of Long Island by 8 p.m. With this part moving southeastward, and another section of the derecho moving eastward hitting New York City, Long Island was caught in the crossfire. It may have been this crossfire that weakened the storms to below severe limits, despite severe thunderstorm warnings being issued well in advance of the storms. A southwest wind was also a culprit, despite elevated atmospheric instability.
As the storms progressed over Long Island, social media was abuzz and filled with pictures of the impressive shelf cloud that enveloped most of the Island before the rains came. Then the strong storms rolled through, at one point knocking out power to over 3000 LIPA customers. Wind gusts reached the 50s, measured at buoys over Long Island and at JFK Airport, which hit 54 mph at 8:01 p.m. As the storms headed east, the derecho fell apart, and rain with lightning and thunder was all that was left as the back edge finally cleared the East End around 11 p.m.
A lightning strike may be responsible for injuring a man in Middle Island. A tree fell on the tracks along the LIRR’s Oyster Bay branch, suspending service on the line for several hours. One fatality was reported in the region, when lightning struck a church’s steeple in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, causing debris to fall on a pedestrian.
Long Island got away relatively unscathed for an airmass that had abundant promise to create a dangerous situation, though other areas did not fair so well. Thunderstorms are still in the forecast into the weekend, but severe weather is not expected to be widespread.
Thanks to all who followed along on social media through the storms! Speaking of, follow me on Facebook and Twitter!
