NADOES!!!!!!

[squonk 47,859]

Many times I have posted in here that in the 38 years I have lived in my house the power has hardly ever gone out. and when it does it usually less than an hour. That all changed Wednesday night. We had severe storms forecast. The weather pattern here is usually a storm will go north or south and sometimes even split and we get nothing. 

 

My wife was working. She was due to get out of work at 8:30. They decided with the lightning flashing like the flashbulbs at a Super bowl kickoff it was best to close early. At 8:20 I put the dog out quick and the rain started coming. I saw her pull into the driveway and got the dog in. Opened the door for her as she got in the rain came. Just a hard rain then at 8:40 the wind picked up. I watched my weather station wind speed and it was a constant 20MPH + with a 38 MPH gust. Then the power went out so that died. I watched out my bay window and I could see the rain whirling around with each lightning flash. A big pine tree's branches were banging on the house. By 9:30 is was over except for some more lightning. I looked out and saw neighbors with flashlights looking around. So I went out and found oor doggie flag on the ground. Pole holder snapped off. A couple of tomato plants knocked over and a medium sized branch on the ground. I figured no big deal.

 

Morning came and still no power. Went outside and saw the debris everywhere. We got lucky. Neighbors not so much. I saw a street sign that was about 20 feet from my house blown down from NW to SE. My tomato plants blown down from SW to NE. The flag w to E. Neighbors flag pole from n to S.

 

I drove to the north side of the village and it's nuts. They took the brunt. Turns out there were 5 Tornadoes in NY Wed. The one that hit me was an EF1. Another  formed about 7 miles west of me that traveled about 7 miles SE was an EF 2. I saw a pic somewhere of a large camper flipped onto it's roof. I think we were on the south edge of the EFI but the EF2 was just a few miles south

 

Kept getting updates on when power would be back. It was getting later and later. I decided to go to Horror Fright and see if they had any genny's left. They did so I bought the bullet and got a 2000 inverter model. I figured if I bought it power would be on when I got home. Well it wasn't so I set it up. Used a Bill's Mafia table to keep the rain off of it and ran our fridge, tankless water heater and charged the wife's phone all at the same time. Really needed that shower!!! 

 

@rjg854 add your pics! 

 

I may never need it again but NY is beginning to become another Nado Alley. I figure if having a Genny keeps the power out cooties away it's worth it. 

 

Pics of the hood and surrounding area

 

  

  

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're right in the little yellow circle.

 

 

This is a pic from a weather guy south of me. He screen shotted this off of a video he took. I think this is the EF 2

 

Edited Friday at 03:30 PM by squonk

[Ed Kennell 46,897]

Glad you dodged the bullet.

[pfrederi 21,026]

Tornado alley is moving East and more north than the classic Oklahoma Kansas corridor.

[ri702bill 12,773]

Glad you guys are OK... Here in RI it's Hurricanes,  - we have had Waterspouts in the Bay though. For NY and west, it's "Auntie Em, Auntie Em watch."

[squonk 47,859]

13 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

Glad you guys are OK... Here in RI it's Hurricanes,  - we have had Waterspouts in the Bay though. For NY and west, it's "Auntie Em, Auntie Em watch."

One of the 5 that hit started out as a waterspout off of Lake Ontario near Lockport

[Handy Don 17,276]

Weather is powerful, for sure. Also remarkable is how sharp an edge a tornado has it moves--here a flattened house and next door a few leaves and branches off a tree. 

[oldlineman 1,795]

We were out about 4 hours, almost set up a gen. but power Co gave me a 11 3 0 am repair time and they came through at 11 20. Pray for our power lineman and personal, they have a very hard and dangerous job, especially after dark. I have worked in there shoes many dark and stormy knights and days and it is a very tough job, but for me very rewarding when we energized a section and the cheers where heard, made it worth while. Bob  

[Dave D. 45]

Man, What a mess. Glad you're OK! I remember in the 80's when the tornados rolled through NC we were out of power for 9 days. My brother lost power for 30 days after Hurricane Helene in the NC mountains, but they were OK. Hate those storms and the clean-up. 

Hope you and your neighbors can back to normal soon.

 

Dave

[stevasaurus 23,795]

Glad you are OK Mike.  No doubt it is getting more dangerous out there any more.  Our usual tornado alley has shifted a little north toward me lately also.  We've had Robo calls and sirens a bunch this summer...and a record of tornados in Illinois this year.  Stay safe my friends.  

[rjg854 13,294]

I faired fairly well, no damage to any of the buildings. Did have a large branch on the roof of the barn, got that down this morning.

Other than that had 2 Ash trees come down, one fell on my neighbor's property it was a property line tree.

The other tree was in the back yard and I've been cutting that up and burning the small stuff.  Just have the main trunk left, and that's about 40 feet long.

Power went out about 8:30 Wednesday night, but I have a generator wired into my main panel, got power back 5:30 pm but went out again until 8:30.  A pole went down when a huge pine tree fell across Rt 89 blocking the main highway and a walnut tree took out the lines that feed the neighbors and my house. Been so busy didn't get pictures of that. Like @squonk said the lightening was awesome non stop all across the sky, never seen anything like it. Picked up 3 1/2 inches of rain. That EF2 passed 2 miles south of me. As far as I know, thank God, no one was hurt. And hats off to NYSEG, the firemen, DOT, and all those that cleared roads and got the power back on. Seneca County was under a no unnecessary travel restriction and even after that was lifted some roads were still blocked.

[Horsin'round 477]

The power of mother nature never ceases to amaze me.  Glad you are safe!

[squonk 47,859]

@rjg854 I went to find where the EF2 went. Finally saw a bucket truck and followed. Mostly on Leader Rd. North of 414 . Saw some metal in a field but no building! finally about a half mile later I found the barn!  Saw one house with the front yard full of tree limbs. Then a cornfield near Yost Rd, where the center was flattened like a steam roller went thru. 

[953 nut 68,396]

Glad you guys are doing well, now for the clean up.

In 2004 while living in Florida we had a Hurricane with imbedded tornados come through. There was a twelve foot space between the house and my workshop so I parked my truck there for protection. A twister came through and stripped all the leaves from a large banyan tree in the back yard, nearly all of them were deposited into the bed of the truck.               Mother nature cleaned up that portion of the debris for me. Unfortunately one neighbor's pool enclosure ended up in my back yard and the majority of the other neighbor's shingles were in my front yard. Neither of their home owners insurance companies would cover cleaning up my yard and since the debris wasn't from my house mine wouldn't pay for removal.

The trusty 1055 with landscape rake took care of the shingles and a metal scrapper hauled off the pool enclosure.

 

[Wayne0 1,622]

Glad you didn't get hit worse!

Dad and Mom gave us a 5KW gennie 20 years ago for X-mass. They are both long passed now, but it was the best gift we ever got. Being on a well, it saved our butts many times.

Hot water and stove is on propane.

[squonk 47,859]

I really debated on getting a genny. Haven't really needed one in 38 years. I went to get ice and was going back and forth about it. When I got the last of the ice the store had I said to my self, ok I'm going to try to get one figuring they were all gone. So after putting oil in it I realize I have no gas!!!  I have 3 cans and when 2 get empty I go fill them.  I have no idea how this happened so I went and filled 3 cans back at the place I got the ice. I'm filling the cans and I hear my phone go off in the car. I'm thinking my wife is texting me that the power was on.  but no it was just hurricane activity on my weather app. 

 

I filled that genny to the top. It ran 4 hours. When I went to drain out the gas the fuel level was still in the filler neck! 

[squonk 47,859]

According to the NWS official report from the Binghamton office, my house was approximately 1mile from the center track of the EF1 and approximately 4 miles from the EF2. Both tornadoes formed within a couple minutes apart

Edited Saturday at 11:03 AM by squonk

[Racinbob 13,094]

This has certainly been a bad year for tornados across the country. Two separate EF2's missed our house by about a half mile, one north and one south. We watched one on the phone come straight at us and were pretty much waiting for the impact when it shifted just to the north about a half mile west of us. The houses on both sides of us were hit. Fortunately Starke County is extremely rural and both spent most of the time in the woods and farm fields. Other areas weren't so lucky. NIPSCO had it's largest power outage in their history with something over a quarter million homes out. It took them over 2 weeks to get to the 90% restored point. The complaints ran wild but people just don't understand what it takes. I know the linemen from NIPSCO, I&M, REMC and others did a tremendous job getting things back up. While not as widespread, it reminded me of the 2004 Florida hurricanes with 3 in a row impacted us. 

[oldlineman 1,795]

[WHX?? 57,708]

12 hours ago, squonk said:

getting a genny

Didn't you have one on a horse? 

[Dave D. 45]

Power at the cabin goes out a lot. Electrician said he had a Generac with 15hrs. on it. 22KW.

Got a great deal. It works great! Guy comes by once a year and services it.

Priced it here at home and found out what a great deal we got.

You can put in a transfer switch and plug for plugging in a portable generator a lot cheaper., 

It comes on automatically and runs 15 mins. every Wednesday to keep it charged.

 

Dave

 

[squonk 47,859]

48 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Didn't you have one on a horse? 

I did but  never needed it except for a conversation piece at shows. Sold it to Lane. I probably needed a modern inverter style genny anyways with the electronics involved with the fridge, furnace and tankless heater I have. If I had an old Norge reefer the WH genny would have been fine. And this one uses less fuel than a Big Block Kohler!

[Racinbob 13,094]

20 hours ago, Dave D. said:

Power at the cabin goes out a lot. Electrician said he had a Generac with 15hrs. on it. 22KW.

Got a great deal. It works great! Guy comes by once a year and services it.

Priced it here at home and found out what a great deal we got.

You can put in a transfer switch and plug for plugging in a portable generator a lot cheaper., 

It comes on automatically and runs 15 mins. every Wednesday to keep it charged.

 

A main breaker interlock is economical way of feeding your panel. I had a generator input receptacle in the garage that I'd plug the genny into feeding that top right switch. Depending on the size of your genny you might need to watch the total load. In a power outage I wasn't worried about the A/C or the dryer so we could run everything else. I just installed a Generac whole house and we've had two outages since and I just grinned as the generator did its thing without me having to lift a finger. The portable is now at our daughters house and I've set her panel up the same way. BTW, if you download the Generac Field Pro App you can access all the settings and adjust what you want.

 

 

20 hours ago, squonk said:

I did but  never needed it except for a conversation piece at shows. Sold it to Lane. I probably needed a modern inverter style genny anyways with the electronics involved with the fridge, furnace and tankless heater I have. If I had an old Norge reefer the WH genny would have been fine. And this one uses less fuel than a Big Block Kohler!

 

With an inverter you're safe. Make sure you get a portable with less than 5% total harmonic distortion. If they don't specify what the THD is, assume it's too high. We had a Powerhouse (Northern Tool) that specified under 5% and we were fine. The manufacturers are getting better about that.

Edited yesterday at 09:14 AM by Racinbob

[squonk 47,859]

Got an updated report from the weather service. Looks like my house split the uprights.

EF1 that was the cause of most of the village damage. 4 1/2 miles North from my house. Less than a half mile from my Brother in Law's house: 

 

UPDATED INFORMATION: Here's an updated statement from the US National Weather Service Binghamton NY on the EF-1 tornado that passed just north of the Village of Waterloo, and ended up in Seneca Falls. As they mentioned, some straight-line winds occurred in this event as well.

WATERLOO-SENECA FALLS EF1 TORNADO AND INTENSE DOWNBURST

RATING: EF1

ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 95 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 6.69 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 250 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE: 09/02/2026

START TIME: 08:21 PM EDT

START LOCATION: 2 NW PACKWOOD CORNERS / SENECA COUNTY / NY

START LAT/LON: 42.9216 / -76.9232

END DATE: 09/02/2026

END TIME: 08:34 PM EDT

END LOCATION: 1 NNW SENECA FALLS / SENECA COUNTY / NY

END LAT/LON: 42.9197 / -76.799

SURVEY SUMMARY:

A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVED INTO SENECA COUNTY WELL

AFTER SUNSET WEDNESDAY EVENING SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 AND PRODUCED

BOTH INTENSE WINDS AND A PAIR OF EMBEDDED TORNADOES. THE SEVERE 

LINE OF STORMS PUSHED OUT INTO A BOW ECHO OF DAMAGING WINDS, WITH

A BOOKEND VORTEX ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE BOW SIGNATURE. AN

INITIAL TORNADO FORMED IN THE CENTER OF THE BROADER ROTATION OF

THE BOOKEND VORTEX, A FEW MILES WEST-NORTHWEST OF WATERLOO. A

CHAOTIC PATTERN OF OPPOSITIONALLY-FACING DOWNED TREES AND

BRANCHES BECAME MORE EVIDENT BY THE TIME THE TORNADO CROSSED

HECKER ROAD, REACHING EF1 STRENGTH UP TO 95 MPH WHILE PROCEEDING

ACROSS MAPLE GROVE CEMETERY AND TRACKING INTO THE VILLAGE.

DESPITE THE TRACK CENTER ITSELF REMAINING NORTH OF US20,

INCLUDING SKIMMING THE SENECA COUNTY OFFICE BUILDING; INFLOW

WINDS TOWARDS THE TORNADO AND THEN INTENSE DOWNDRAFT WINDS BEHIND

IT CAUSED SIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE THROUGHOUT WATERLOO INCLUDING

EVEN SOUTH OF THE SENECA RIVER. THE SEVERE DOWNBURST MEASURED 76 MPH

AT THE WATERLOO NY MESONET SITE, AND CONTINUED TO THE FINGER LAKES

REGIONAL AIRPORT WHERE HANGAR DAMAGE OCCURRED AND SMALL AIRCRAFT

WAS TURNED OVER. AS THESE WINDS RACED AHEAD TO THE SOUTH, THE TORNADO

REMAINED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF US20 WHILE STRIKING A COMMERCIAL FRAME

TENT NEAR THE SENECA FALLS BORDER, WITH 750 POUND CONCRETE WEIGHTS THAT

WERE THROWN AND 6 INCH THICK POLES THAT WERE BENT AND SCATTERED.

THE TORNADO THEN OCCLUDED AND WEAKENED WHILE PEELING EAST-NORTHEAST

INTO THE NORTH SIDE OF SENECA FALLS BEFORE ENDING.

MEANWHILE, AN EVEN STRONGER TORNADO SPUN UP ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTH

OF THE FIRST ONE, WHICH TRACKED ACROSS MOST OF THE WIDTH OF

SENECA COUNTY.

 

EF2  4 1 /2 miles south of me:

 

TOWN OF FAYETTE EF2 TORNADO AND HIGH WINDS

RATING: EF2

ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 115 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 7.76 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 200 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE: 09/02/2026

START TIME: 08:23 PM EDT

START LOCATION: 1 SSW ROSE HILL / SENECA COUNTY / NY

START LAT/LON: 42.8336 / -76.9132

END DATE: 09/02/2026

END TIME: 08:36 PM EDT

END LOCATION: 2 SSW CANOGA / SENECA COUNTY / NY

END LAT/LON: 42.8292 / -76.7627

SURVEY SUMMARY:

A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVED INTO SENECA COUNTY WELL

AFTER SUNSET WEDNESDAY EVENING SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 AND PRODUCED

BOTH INTENSE WINDS AND A PAIR OF EMBEDDED TORNADOES.

IN THE VERY HIGHLY SHEARED AND UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT, A SECOND

TORNADIC CIRCULATION QUICKLY PICKED UP ROUGHLY 5 MILES 

SOUTH OF

THE FIRST ONE, AND RAPIDLY INTENSIFIED INTO AN EVEN STRONGER

TORNADO WITH NEARLY IMMEDIATE DESTRUCTION TO A GARAGE AND SHEDS

OF A RESIDENCE ON POST ROAD. RADAR ITSELF SOON CONFIRMED DEBRIS

LOFTING AS HIGH AS 11,000 FEET AS THE TORNADO STRENGTHENED TO

EF2 WITH WINDS UP TO 115 MPH, TRACKING EAST ACROSS ALMOST THE

ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE TOWN OF FAYETTE.

DESPITE OCCURRING AFTER NIGHTFALL, THE NEARLY CONSTANT LIGHTNING

REVEALED THE FUNNEL TO MANY EYEWITNESSES AS IT APPROACHED.

SEVERAL BARNS AND OUTBUILDINGS WERE SEVERELY DAMAGED, LEVELED, OR EVEN

LOFTED WITH DAMAGE STREWN MANY HUNDREDS OF YARDS. PEAK INTENSITY

OCCURRED AT A FARM PROPERTY ALONG WATTS ROAD, WITH A HEIFER BARN

DESTROYED WHILE SENDING MISSILES OF DEBRIS IMPALING INTO A HOUSE

AND SMASHING WINDOWS. A LARGE SWIRLING PATH COULD BE FOUND

IMPRINTED IN CORNFIELDS BOTH WEST AND EAST OF THAT 

TORNADO NEARLY PARALLELED LEADER ROAD WHILE HEAVILY DAMAGING

ADDITIONAL FARMS AND SNAPPING NUMEROUS POWER POLES. THE TORNADO

WAS FINALLY OVERTAKEN BY THE SEVERE WINDS IMMEDIATELY BEHIND IT,

WEAKENING AS IT CROSSED SEYBOLT ROAD BEFORE ENDING. SEVERE

DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS THEN CONTINUED ACROSS CAYUGA LAKE

INCLUDING THE UNION SPRINGS AREA OF CAYUGA COUNTY. SCATTERED

DAMAGE OCCURRED THERE INCLUDING SNAPPED LARGE BRANCHES, A DOWNED

FENCE, AND A THROWN GAZEBO STRUCTURE AT CAYUGA STREET ON THE NORTH

SIDE OF THE VILLAGE AS REPORTED BY A RESIDENT WITH PHOTOS. THERE WERE

ALSO ADDITIONAL TREES AND BRANCHES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF THE 

VILLAGE ON

NUMBER 1 ROAD.

 

 

[squonk 47,859]

My dog Bella and I were EF2 path hunting this morning. Found this camper flipped over onto it's roof!. Across the road, a mobile home was moved 2 feet but you can't tell from the road. The propane tanks were knocked over by the home hitting them. There was a woman living in a 5th wheel camper on the property and that wasn't touched.