TWO TORNADOES OVER THE WEEKEND

Written by: Brian Neudorff

What a Saturday weatherwise across Western New York. No doubt tornadoes are rare in Western New York but Saturday showed that they can and do occur.

Saturday evening featured two tornadoes. One was in the town of Darien and the Village of Corfu. This tornado was the worst of the two. I was estimated by the National Weather Service in Buffalo to be an EF-1 on the enhanced Fujita scale. It hit the towns between 4:50pm & 5pm. It had estimated maximum winds of 100 mph. It left a path 3.5 miles long and was a football field wife (100 yds) Thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities. The damage was widespread along the southern portion of Corfu. 25 to 30 homes suffered damage and one greenhouse and a barn were completely destroyed.

The second tornado occurred in the Village of Hilton, when it struck the town around 5:55pm. Initial touchdown was on the southern edge of the villiage, just west of Hilton Parma road and route 259. The storm did continued in a northeast direction. The NWS surface rated this tornado as a weak EF-0 on the enhanced Fujita scale. Estimated maximum winds with this tornado was about 75 mph and a path of three quarters of a mile and was 30 yards wide. From the National Weather Service survey the storm was not on the ground the whole time, most of the damage was to trees, however one home sustained structural damage tossing around patio furnature, a trampoline, and some toys.