Brooklyn Storm Is Declared a Tornado

Rooftops of homes were torn off by the tornado that was the first to hit Brooklyn since at least 1950. (Photo: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times)

The National Weather Service confirmed at 5:12 p.m. that a tornado touched down in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, this morning. The tornado was classified as a 2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which goes from 0 to 5. An EF2 tornado consists of winds of 111 to 135 miles per hour.

The weather service said in a statement:

The tornado path was discontinuous and started in Bay Ridge sometime just after 6:30 a.m. today on Bay Ridge Avenue, between Third and Fourth Avenues, and continued on an east-northeast path across 68th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. Eleven homes in this section had moderate to severe roof damage. The storm continued to move east-northeast into Leif Ericson Park and Square, where severe damage to trees occurred. As the tornado lifted, it tore off the roof of a Nissan car dealership at the corner of 66th Street and Fifth Avenue. The tornado returned to the ground farther northeast, with scattered tree damage along Sixth Avenue. Based on the assessed damage, this tornado is classified as an EF2 tornado with estimated wind speeds of 111 to 135 m.p.h.

The tornado returned to the ground as another pocket of significant damage occurred on 58th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The roof was ripped off of five homes, and tree damage indicates strong EF1 damage, with winds of 86 to 100 m.p.h.

The weather service noted that it “had issued a tornado warning for this storm at 6:28 a.m.”

The tornado was the first in New York City since a tornado that swirled through Staten Island on Oct. 27, 2003.

Jeffrey M. Warner, a meteorologist at Penn State University, said the tornado today was the first one to hit Brooklyn since at least 1950, when modern record-keeping began, and only the sixth tornado recorded in New York City since 1950.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/brooklyn-storm-is-declared-a-tornado/