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As a reader reported earlier, a tornado may have touched down in Bay Ridge. Funnel clouds were spotted early this morning and a tornado warning was posted for Brooklyn, Queens and parts of Nassau County. We won't know if the damage was caused by a tornado, microburst, or straight line winds until the National Weather Service sends out a forensics team to investigate.
Now that the rain is gone, 2.5 inches in Central Park and at LaGuardia, 3.47 inches at JFK, we can expect a totally miserable day! Oppressive heat and humidity are in store, with a heat advisory in effect from one to six this afternoon. Today's high will be around 90 degrees. The Weather Service is predicting a high of 94, but their forecasts have been running several degrees warm since last week. The dew point temperature is in the mid-70s.
With that much humidity our bodies simply can't cool by evaporating sweat. Thus fans become useless as cooling devices. In response to the heat the city has opened cooling centers around town. If you have to be outside, the shade is your friend, as is drinking water and avoiding strenuous activity.
Relief is in store for tomorrow. A cold front will filter down this evening, bringing us a cooler, drier Thursday. Friday will be even cooler, but there's a good chance of rain. Everyone will be happy if Saturday turns out to be as sunny and mild as expected.
Radar map showing the storm well out to sea from the National Weather Service.
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Finally getting around to buying an A/C today. Sounds like there's no better time.
Like I said before, I'm dubious that a tornado actually touched down in dense Brooklyn. If such a thing truly happened I don't think there'd be much debate over it, for the devastation would amount to far more than a few downed trees and subway woes.
I can't believe people actually live w/o AC in manhattan. I've done it for a week (staying with a friend) and it's absolutely aweful - you can open the windows, but all that does is let you listen to cabs honking all night long.
I live in Bay Ridge, and while I certainly didn't see a tornado, it does look like one could have touched down. I saw massive trees uprooted all over the neighborhood, crushed cars, downed power lines, and a huge mess all over the place. Several streets are completely blocked off, and there are cops and fireman all over the place.
I'm pretty sure a small tornado could touch down and not cause the level of destruction you folks are expecting. It would probably be disrupted rather quickly. An F0 tornado can have wind speeds as low as 75mph which would most likely only cause damage to trees before quickly losing form.
It could well have been a weak tornado or a tornado that just touched down for a few seconds. The common scale for measuring a tornado is based on its damage potential. Over 80 percent of tornadoes fall in the lowest category, meaning they do relatively light damage.
Is it that important what the technical term is? Who cares if it was or wasn't a tornado? It was a big honking storm of a kind we don't usually get around here. Trees fell down. Roofs blew off. The subway's not running. I haven't heard about anyone hurt yet, thank God.
I live in Brooklyn, so instead of honks, I get Spanish music.
the damage in bay ridge is evident a small tornado or strong gale force winds ripped thru. a tornado is more likely since the damage is isolated to certain areas. some homes were destroyed while neighboring home (right next door) were untouched-- a clear sign that a tornado hit.
thankfully, no one was killed.
It does matter if it was or wasn't a tornado. Tornadoes form under very specific weather conditions. While tornadoes are relatively rare here it is important to keep track of how often they strike and how strong they are. The city's emergency preparedness and response people are going to want to know if the frequency/strength are changing over time. Building codes might need to be examined if tornadoes became more frequent. The weather service is going to want to know if they need to assign more resources to tracking severe thunderstorms in the region. Those issues can't be addressed unless good data is gathered.
CNN reports: '"Due to severe flooding throughout the subway system, there are extensive delays on all subway lines," said a statement from the Metro Transit Authority (MTA). "Customers are advised when at all possible to use bus service."'
Except I didn't see any MTA employees around to ask about the best bus service to take.
Anybody else hear any rumblings about a possible power outage this afternoon??
Damage in Bay Ridge:
http://flickr.com/photos/jnforte/sets/72157601308620213/
Damage in Kensington (mostly downed trees):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trarbach/sets/72157601306804949/
I blame the midwest
ConEd advises Brooklyn to conserve power.
i just rode my bike through kensington and bay ridge to ck out what everyone is talking about. yes, roads are blocked with yellow tape (east 7th and oceanparkway area), trees were uprooted and blocking the streets, lots of damaged cars and homes...really residents are just trying to clean it up. i didn't see one city official around there. it was kind nuts.