2007 Brooklyn tornado

EF2 tornado in New York City Needs a "meteorological synopsis" and a proper "aftermath" section January 2026 May 2025 June 2019 2007 Brooklyn tornado Brooklyntornado2007_2.jpg A vehicle crushed by a fallen tree August 8, 2007 August 8, 2007, 6:22 p.m. CDT (UTC−05:00) August 8, 2007, 6:40 p.m. CDT (UTC−05:00) 18 minutes EF2 111-135 mph km/h on >4,000https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/nyregion/09storm.html A Sudden Storm Brings New York City to Its Knees The New York Times August 8, 2007 Barron James 9 US$20 million (early est.) New York City tornadoes of 2007 The 2007 Brooklyn tornado, an EF2 tornado, was the strongest tornado on record to strike New York City since documentation began in 1950. It formed in the early morning hours of August 8, 2007, skipping along an approximately 9 mi km-long path, from Staten Island across The Narrows to Brooklyn.http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/pns/tonado_NYC.txt Public Information Statement August 8, 2007 August 8, 2007 National Weather Service, Upton, NY The worst damage was in and around Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, in Brooklyn. The U.S. National Weather Service estimated its strength there as an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.Chung Jen August 8, 2007 http://gothamist.com/2007/08/08/tornado_did_tou.php Gothamist: Tornado Did Touch Down in Brooklyn August 8, 2007 Gothamist dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070930182341/http://gothamist.com/2007/08/08/tornado_did_tou.php September 30, 2007 No serious injuries or fatalities were reported as a result of the tornado, but several people were treated at area hospitals for flying glass injuries. At least 40 buildings and 100 cars were damaged. New York State Senator Martin Golden’s office estimated damage in the tens of millions of U.S. dollars.http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=14682 Tornado Ravages Southwest Brooklyn August 8, 2007 Neidl Phoebe August 8, 2007 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 40 Buildings, 100 Cars Damaged : Early estimates by state Sen. Marty Golden’s office put damages possibly in the tens of millions of dollars. dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211039/http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=14682 September 27, 2007 The storm system produced severe street flooding, and disrupted all modes of transportation throughout the city. Service was delayed or suspended on all 24 New York City Subway services during the morning rush hour, and nine services were still not running by the evening rush.Dolmetsch Chris August 8, 2007 https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqlNgrJtIakA&refer New York Commuters Meet Hours of Delays After Deluge August 8, 2007 Bloomberg.com dead https://web.archive.org/web/20121023110851/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqlNgrJtIakA&refer October 23, 2012 Timeline thumb|right|Structural damage caused by the tornado.The typical summer storm system that spawned the tornado gathered strength over Pennsylvania, caused heavy rain over New Jersey and continued its eastward movement, reaching New York City at sunrise.http://www.1010wins.com/pages/791452.php?contentType=4&contentId=782889 Flooded subways? A Brooklyn Tornado? Some Blame Global Warming August 11, 2007 August 9, 2007 Associated Press 1010 WINS December 2016 medicmedic According to the National Weather Service, the first tornado first touched down in Staten Island at approximately 6:22 am EDT (1022 UTC) in the vicinity of St. Austins Place in the Livingston - Randall Manor area, before moving east, with additional damage occurring in the Tompkinsville area, probably from a subsequent tornado that formed from a new area of circulation just north of the first tornado. Most of the damage on Staten Island was to trees, and was rated EF1 intensity with estimated winds of 86 - 110 mph km/h. The circulation intensified, and headed east across The Narrows tidal strait, just north of the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge, and the tornado re-developed and touched down again in Brooklyn, at Bay Ridge at 6:32 am EDT. It continued on an east-northeast path across 68th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues, damaging the roofs of 11 homes. The storm continued to move east-northeast into Leif Ericson Park Square, where severe damage to trees occurred, and where winds blew out a 15 ft m mid -tall stained glass window valued at $300,000 at the nearby Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church.http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/09/2007-08-09_church_shattered_by_lost_window-2.html Church shattered by lost window Wisloski Jess Connor Tracy August 8, 2007 New York Daily News August 9, 2007 September 30, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070930061930/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/09/2007-08-09_church_shattered_by_lost_window-2.html dead It then crossed the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. The tornado touched down farther northeast with scattered tree damage along Sixth Avenue. Based on the assessed damage this stage of the tornado was classified EF2 with wind speeds of 111 to 135 mph km/h on. The tornado returned to the ground with another pocket of significant damage on 58th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Roofs were ripped off 5 homes, with tree damage indicating strong EF1 damage. The tornado then headed east and touched down again in Kensington and the Flatbush neighborhood of Prospect Park South at approximately 6:40 am EDT. Approximately 30 trees were uprooted along Ocean Parkway. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for portions of Staten Island and Brooklyn at 6:28 am. Tornado warnings were also briefly issued for eastern Brooklyn and Southern Queens and Nassau County on Long Island, but no tornadoes were reported in those areas.http://www.mta.info/sites/default/files/archive/pdfs/storm_report_2007.pdf August 8, 2007 Storm Report September 20, 2007 mta.info Metropolitan Transportation Authority March 27, 2018 October 19, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161019225404/http://www.mta.info/sites/default/files/archive/pdfs/storm_report_2007.pdf dead Media coverage thumb|New York Post front page on August 9 thumb|New York Daily News front page on August 9 New York media coverage of the event focused on the novelty of the event and its disruption of subway service (this was the third time in 2007 when heavy rain had caused disruptions in subway service). Tabloids The New York Post and New York Daily News tabloids both ran the front-page headline “Twister!” The main article in the Daily News was headlined “Brooklyn becomes Tornado Alley!” with a subheading of “First twister to rip through boro since 1889; S.I. driver dies”. The main article inside the Post read: “Brooklyn Cyclone” (playing on the pun of the famous Coney Island Cyclone in Brooklyn and the baseball team of the same name). The teaser on the front page depicted Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz proclaiming “This ain't Kansas”. An inside side bar in the Post had eyewitness accounts headlined “Wet & Wild”. The Long Island based Newsday front-page headline was "What’s Up With the Weather? – LI Drenched Again – Tornado in City – Subways Swamped." Broadsheets The New York Times front page main headline was “Subways to Rooftops, a Storm Brings Havoc to New York” The three front-page stories were headlined “Transportation Paralysis”, "Déjà vu Down Under", "Yes a Tornado in Brooklyn." The New York Times quoted an eyewitness, who said, "It was a funnel shape...It looked kind of black and blue...it was way up high and came right down on the roof of (a department store)...Pieces of the roof were all over the place. It was a big bang."https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/nyregion/08cnd-weather.html Tornado Hits Brooklyn; Subway Back in Service The New York Times O'Connor Anahad Bowley Graham August 8, 2007 The New York Sun read: “It’s Frustrating, It’s Insanity” with a subhead “Anger Erupts At Subway; Tornado Hits”. Global warming The press coverage also examined the link between the storm and global warming, given the tornado's historic nature, and the other recent subway service interruptions caused by torrential rain on July 18 and the previous winter. Official statements alluded to this as well. "We may be dealing with meteorological conditions that are unprecedented," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director Elliot G. Sander in the immediate aftermath, and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer said the day after, "This is supposed to be a rainfall event that is a once-in-a-decade occurrence – we've had three in the past seven months." Climate scientist James E. Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York City cautioned against linking any single event with global warming, but did say that the probability of severe weather events is related. "You cannot blame a single specific event, such as this week's storm, on climate change. However, it is fair to ask whether the human changes have altered the likelihood of such events. There the answer seems to be 'yes.'", he was quoted as saying. See also Other tornadoes There were five previous tornadoes in New York City on record, but none as strong as this one.http://www.1010wins.com/pages/781687.php?contentType=4&contentId=774674 NWS: Twister Touches Down in Bay Ridge August 8, 2007 August 8, 2007 1010 WINS Associated Press The National Weather Service had records of at least five, plus sketchy detail on the last reported tornado sighting in Brooklyn, in 1889. None was as strong as Wednesday's twister. https://web.archive.org/web/20070824083958/http://www.1010wins.com/pages/781687.php?contentType=4&contentId=774674 August 24, 2007 dead The New York City borough of Staten Island has had the most tornadoes on record of any of the five boroughs, with a total of three, all since 1990.http://www.silive.com/local/advance/index.ssf?/base/local/1146163597239150.xml&coll=1&thispage=2 Island's weather likes to keep residents guessing August 8, 2007 Staten Island Advance Only three twisters have ever been officially recorded in our borough, all of them weak F0 or F1 tornadoes... dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070926215325/http://www.silive.com/local/advance/index.ssf?/base/local/1146163597239150.xml&coll=1&thispage=2 September 26, 2007 Meteorologists believed this storm produced the first tornado in Brooklyn since 1889, before reliable records were kept.http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--severeweather-gla0808aug08,0,3412624.story A Brooklyn tornado is a rarity; the last one was in 1889 August 8, 2007 Associated Press Newsday Meteorologists believed this storm produced the first tornado in Brooklyn since 1889May 2026 medicmedic The five previous tornadoes on record are: October 27, 2003 — An F0 tornado touches down briefly in Staten Islandhttps://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F14F734550C7A8EDDA90994DB404482 If It Walks Like, and Quacks Like, a Tornado August 8, 2007 October 29, 2003 The New York Times Michael Brick October 28, 1995 — An F1 tornado touches down in Staten Island with light damagehttp://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/hazards/weather_tornado.shtml NYC Hazards: Tornadoes August 8, 2007 New York City Office of Emergency Management nyc.gov Though generally associated with the central United States, tornadoes occasionally occur in New York City. dead https://web.archive.org/web/20071015224921/http://nyc.gov/html/oem/html/hazards/weather_tornado.shtml October 15, 2007 August 10, 1990 — An F0 tornado on Staten Island injures three peoplehttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5DF173CF931A2575BC0A966958260 Cleanup Follows Path of Tornado on Staten Island August 12, 1990 August 8, 2007 The New York Times A rare TORNADO hit the New York borough of STATEN ISLAND on Friday, uprooting several trees and disrupting gas and electrical service. October 5, 1985 — An F1 tornado in Fresh Meadows Park, Queens injures six people. September 2, 1974 — An F1 tornado moved from Westchester into the Bronxhttps://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00911F63C550C748DDDAF0894D9404482 F.Y.I. August 8, 2007 October 29, 2003 The New York Times Tornadoes were reported in Staten Island in 1990 and 1995, and in 1974, A twister from Westchester wandered into The Bronx. Daniel B. Schneider Other links List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks List of tornadoes striking downtown areas Tornadoes of 2007 References 2 External links Public Information Statement...Revised, Tornado Damage Survey, National Weather Service, Upton NY, issued 2:32 PM EDT Tuesday August 14, 2007 A Tree Blows Down in Brooklyn 40.63 -74.10 type:event_globe:earth_region:US-NY title 2007-08-08 08-08 2007-08-08 Category:2000s in Brooklyn Category:2007 natural disasters in the United States Category:Natural disasters in New York City Category:2007 in New York City Category:August 2007 in the United States