Just last week, an EF1 tornado touched down in Western New York, specifically Portland, NY. Exactly how uncommon are twisters in our backyard?

What You Need To Know

 

  • An EF1 tornado touched down in Chautauqua County last week

  • While uncommon, tornadoes have occured many times across Western New York

  • The strongest on record was an EF4 near Chautauqua Lake in 1985

The details of that tornado from the National Weather Service in Buffalo:

“Wind speeds reached at least 86 mph but could’ve climbed to 110 mph. In addition it impacted the south side of Barnes Road in Chautauqua County. As the tornado moved through, a garage was flattened, a semi-trailer was lifted and moved 150 feet away. It then destroyed a foot barn. Windows of the home on the property were sucked out with torrential rains causing water damage to the interior of the home. Some livestock suffered minor injuries but no humans were hurt.”

Seeing one tornado so far this year has a lot of Western New Yorkers wondering just how common tornadoes are to this area so I did some research.

Chautauqua County has seen around 30 tornadoes in 60 years. The strongest tornado in the county happened near Chautauqua Lake. That one, ranked an EF4 (166 – 204 mph), and traveled northeast of Clymer to southeast of Panama on May 31, 1985.

Cattaraugus County over the years has picked up 15 tornadoes. The strongest of those was an impressive EF3 (136 – 165 mph) near Salamanca on May 15, 1961.

To wrap up our Southern Tier communities, Allegany County has had a whopping 10 tornadoes. The strongest were found near Angelica. Ironically, that is the same area where the warnings from the active July weather day this year occurred.

Erie County surprisingly has seen its fair share of these violent storms - in recent memory, the EF2 (111 – 135 mph) tornado that hit the Hamburg Fairgrounds. As a whole, the county has seen close to 20 recorded tornadoes in 60 years.

Wyoming County has received 3 tornadoes. The strongest was an EF2. The county hasn't seen a tornado since June 2, 1998.

Genesee County has only seen 2 tornadoes, one in Batavia and one near Corfu. The strongest was an EF1. This county has been quiet on the tornado scene since July 25, 2009.

Niagara County has received 4 tornadoes; 3 of which hit the Lockport area. The strongest was an EF1.

Orleans County has seen the least amount of tornadoes in WNY with only one near Lyndonville on September 29, 1986. It was an EF1.

So next time you have your eyes to the sky and meteorologists are predicting a tornado, don’t count them out. Even though they’re rare, they’re not impossible.