Double Tornado: One Each For Brooklyn, Queens

What does it mean? The storm that hit on Thursday around 5:30 p.m. was not one tornado but two tornado—plus a macroburst! According to the National Weather Service, there an EF-0 tornado that touched down in Park Slope, Brooklyn (winds of 80 mph, max path width of 75 yards and a length of 2 miles), while a EF-1 tornado hit Flushing and Bayside, Queens (winds of 100 mph, max path width of 100 yards, and length of 4 miles). The macroburst, which was the most damaging, was near Middle Village and Forest Hills (winds of 125 mph, max path width of 5 miles and path length of 8 miles).

National Weather Service spokesman Gary Conte said, "We were extremely fortunate that there were no more fatalities"—aside from the woman killed on the Grand Central Parkway by a falling tree—"and extremely fortunate that there were no serious injuries." Senator Charles Schumer said, "The destruction caused by this storm was swift and sudden. Our first priority is to ensure that our residents are safe and our neighborhoods and streets get back to normal as quickly as possible. We have reached out to FEMA to ensure they are doing everything possible to help and I will continue to press Washington for any assistance we may need as New York City assesses storm damage and begins the clean-up."

It's believed that over 1,500 trees were damaged in the storm (see pictures above and here) which means tree service companies' phones are ringing off the hook.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on September 18, 2010 11:15 AM

Comments [rss]

Hope Duchaine

Two tornadoes, give me a break!! I wouldn't call them tornadoes because their winds are not that strong. I do believe that one was a microburst and one of the others was a small tornado, but the other one that measured EF-0 should not even be considered a tornado at all. I wish that some of the meteorologists should check a little bit more with their facts before they make their storm forecasts.

Mike S

Had to register just to reply to this.

1. Glad to know we have a trained meteorologist on staff here. "I wouldn't call them tornadoes because their winds are not that strong".

2. Read up on the enhanced Fujita scale for scoring tornado intensity. Here, have a link

3. Please untangle the following sentence (I would, but I really don't know where to start.) "I wish that some of the meteorologists should check a little bit more with their facts before they make their storm forecasts".

I tried to ascertain meaning from the previous sentence, but ended up with a headache. And a new respect for my past professors of English.

elveese

Meantime, in Manhattan, the weather was. . . how can I describe it? . . rainy. Very rainy.

I totally had to hail a cab.

ak

The tornados know better then to mess with Manhattan. They'd get the wind sued out of them.

chlyn

You said "hail." Hehe.

Guest

i though i told you tornadoes to uproot those 73 pelham parkway trees in the bronx!

Guest

*t

ahh... one more hour to go.

Såkandulæredet

I wish Gothamist would get a better slideshow that doesn't reload the page on each click.

Kelles

tornadoes? here???

no, no that's too Middle America

Please GO BACK TO KANSAS, TORNADOES!

Cannibal

For reals. Im tired of these tornadoes coming to our neighborhoods from Bumfuck Middle America and just tearing shit up like they belong here. I miss old New York when tornadoes were terrified to come to Brooklyn

jimmycracks

tornadoes are the new hipsters

exnyer

Yeah way back when, even thunderstorms requested a police escort.

John L

Thank God it's official because I couldn't go through another day of all the Gothamists pseudoscientists trying to prove each other wrong, over and over again.

It was almost as bad as the AT ground zero/NEAR ground zero debate but still not as bad as the community center/mosque debate.

Spirit of 76

Hey, this is Allah punishing the capital of the infidels.

yahoo-YYVE3FCIJTHYOSUIVK5Y25HYWA

Its funny becuase new york isn't the capitol of the US camel jockey.

Jessica

Some punishment it is. One fatality, a woman who had the bad luck of getting hit by a tree.

I don't know about anyone else, but if I was a vengeful deity (I would hardly be a deity if I was vengeful, but I digress), I would probably wipe out a lot more people with something a lot stronger than EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes. If I had to go the tornado route, I'd make the biggest tornado possible.

Otherwise, I'd use my head and use pestilence.

Honestly, think before you speak. That goes for all creeds, races, whatever. Stupidity like this is just unnecessary. "DURRHURR IT'S ALLAH, MAN. HE SENT A SUPER WEAK TORNADO."

Yeah. No.