Based on my own analysis of the videos and my past experience with severe weather, the first video was the actual (F1) Tornado while the 2nd was a microburst. The reason the warning was issued was the winds in both situations were approx. 80 to 100 MPH, and if they were any stronger, your windows would have blown out. Tornadoes are common in my part of the country (the upper midwest) and I have lived through a few of them- mostly F0s and F1s. An F3 struck north of my town a few years ago.
Thank you for posting your films. We have two kids living in Park Slope and Red Hook. They are ok but it is good to know what they have experienced. They call us when the temp is minus 30 and the wind is 40mph +. Jamestown, ND
MOST tornadoes form under the storm's updraft base, which is why you find hail instead of rain under them. However, not ALL form this way. Watch some videos of close tornado intercepts and pay careful attention to the RFD when it approaches. Many are saturated with water. Some tornadoes are even rain wrapped, which is terrifying for the observer because it makes it hard to see their trajectory. I hope you were a first year meteorology student when you made that comment, with all due respect.
To clear things up, a "tornado" does not actually mean "it's on the ground". When the weather service sees strong rotation in the clouds from radar, it classifies it as a tornado and issues a warning as such. It could very well (And probably way) have been a tornado, just not one that had touched down on the ground.
@paleroses00 This area was under a rare tornado warning and this cell had rotation. We were warned that the tornado may not be visible because it would be "rain wrapped."
microbursts are the opposite of tornadoes. Tornadoes are associated with converging winds or winds that rush along the surface towards the funnel and sucked into the air. Microburst winds are diverging, rapidly sinking columns of air that drop down from the cloud and spread along the ground at speeds capable of tornadic or hurricane-like damage. This video is an example of a small scale wet microburst.
I live in queens and everyone keeps exaggerating about how bad the damage was. First of there was no hurricane. Just severe thunderstorms having 70mph winds gusting down trees, street poles, etc. And I agree this is nothing compared to hurricanes faced in Florida and around that region of the world.
While I do agree that the winds shown here were not directly associated with a tornado, it does appear that there was a tornado in Brooklyn. Check out the UA-cam video called "Powerful Brooklyn storm 9.16.10 (closest thing to a tornado I've ever seen)". It clearly shows the winds rapidly changing directions as they would in or near a tornado.
ppl this isn't the actual funnel...this was a powerful downburst or microburst typical of thunderstorms - straight line winds that can run in excess of 120mph and cause tremendous damage. The actual funnel was probably obscured in the wind and rain elsewhere
I personally thought it was a squall, but according to news reports it was a tornado that came across the harbor from Staten Island and then touched down in Red Hook and moved through Park Slope.
As a meteorology student I can tell you this is not a tornado. This is downburst winds because tornadoes form under the thunderstorm updraft and rain and hail fall in the downdraft which is displace. If you look at tornado videos you will notice that precipitation is not the location of the tornado.
It depends. Tornadoes can also come out of the shelf clouds associated with severe thunderstorms, especially derechos. They just aren't as big or strong as the ones you are talking about, which come out of supercells
@gabrielgcox the rapidly changing speed and direction you see in the video is called wind shear and is also common in microbursts. That's not an indication of a tornado. Remember also as the air rushes down to the ground, it spreads outwards and slows down from friction at which point it begins to curl upwards and backwards creating sort of a mid-air vortex.
i live in the gateway, and the shit echoing from NYC was fucking insane. we got an intense rain storm, but NOTHING compared to what was hovering over you guys.
@DearParticipant There was no funnel cloud, except one that was reported and shown on the news. That one formed over Perth Amboy and quickly disappeared, never touching the ground. What you see in these videos is a rapidly approaching rain shaft with powerful microburst. Microbursts are like the opposite of tornadoes. Tornadoes suck air upwards, creating a tremendous twisting updraft while microburst blow air downwards.
I storm chased as a hobby in Oklahoma. Believe me, if this seems bad, you don't want to be inside a tornado. This is NOT a tornado, just microbursts and straight-line winds from a powerful storm. Good footage though.
Well I might have been saying "dude look at the tree" during the video, but that is because I live next door and it's my poor tree. Makes this a little hard to watch, the branches were everywhere but it's still standing, tho.
@coxkid2000 there's no rotation here because you are looking at a flat one-dimensional view of the storm. The reference point is hard to establish. If this was directly in the vortex, nearly every car and building outside would have sustained heavy damage yet you still see cars rolling happily along. Many tornadoes have hit cities with taller structures and retained a funnel. It's a misconception to say buildings "block" a funnel from forming.
Hey guys, while I'm just a lil ole lady here, after living in Northern & Mid Al, Tennessee, & N Fl, (on Ga border), I've seen a few green sky's in my time-didn't exactly see that here. Also, when our home was blown apart by a '98 twister, the green sky, hail, silence-except 4 loud train sound preceded it-like the others.
@Keinichn A "tornado" that doesn't touch down on the ground wouldn't be one at all. It would just be a funnel cloud since there is no connection between the ground and cloud base. It's precisely when a funnel cloud or this rotating wind touches the ground that by definition it is classified as a tornado. That's with or without a condensation funnel.
Fast moving thunderstorms can produce downbursts which appear to the untrained eye to be a tornado. It can only be determined to be a tornado if the damage has twisting to it... this is more to be a downburst which can be as damaging as a tornado... it was a downburst that caused a Eastern Airlines jet to crash at JFK airport in 1975...
classic micro-burst good job on getting it on camera. its as rare as a tornado. one similar to this caused the dallas cowboys practice facility to collapse.
Beautiful footage! There could have been a tornado in there, not visible in the video. Doppler radar might help see it. I lived through the Xenia tornado in April, '74, and these two videos gave me some flashbacks! That one was huge and wide, an F5, I believe.
and also, just because trees where blown over doesn't mean it was a tornado. Yes, it was a major storm with strong winds. I know there was a torn warn out for it too, still doesn't mean that it WAS a tornado. I hope everyone is ok!!! Looks like a storm we would get here in Kansas!
HOLY SHIT! this is the best bow echo ive ever seen with 90-100 mph wind gusts!!! for a storm like that would usually be in oklahoma or chicago not brooklyn!!!
Okay, so you continued filming? Brave man. I decided to stop and move to safety. Notice how after the storm passed everything went back to normal so fast. At first all HELL broke loose in Brooklyn. I had to make sure my daughter was safe cause she was crying the whole time.
@DearParticipant No just right-click on that one photo...copy the Image Location and paste it on here. The image location is random and does not necessarily correlate with your profile, nor does it expose anything. it's just a picture location.
@clingcom you can see rotation in this video on UA-cam: "Powerful Brooklyn storm 9.16.10 (closest thing to a tornado I've ever seen)" I agree that the video above is associated with downburst winds, but this other one is clearly rotating.
for those who dont know anything, new york is in the northeast and if you guys actually outside or yu had to run into a store or something, you would know if it was a tornado or not
@Big- Tornado's don't come in one size. This was a relatively weak one, approx 85mph. He is IN the tornado as it touched down. You're not going to see the witch twirling around on her bike. You'll notice the first wall hits at approx :40. @1:14 is in the eye and it gets calm. The second wall comes in @1:36ish. BTW, I'm a born and raised Kansan, so don't give me this whole "You don't know real weather!" crap.
So I live in South Dakota and it seems like common sense NOT to be standing near a window during a sever storm such as this... Why would this seem like a good idea?
I live there and that's my tree, which did not survive, actually. The storm damaged it so badly that we cut it down a few weeks later. Watching this video makes me realize we were lucky it didn't come crashing through my roof at the time; meanwhile a huge piece of the roof of the building where the video was shot landed a block away on top of some parked cars.
the only close call was a funnel cloud that was recorded by a woman in Perth Amboy, NJ. But it never touched land and dissipated within seconds so it was not a tornado.
the people who aren't saying its a tornado probably isn't from NY and probably some has no knowledge or never seen a tornado before. Anyways new yorkers never seen anything like this so calm your asses down.
Are you sure this was a tornado and not just a microburst or an extremely low pressure system? I'm just wondering because I would think that with NY's older buildings there'd be more damage if it were even the slightest of tornadoes. I'm a student at Montclair State University in New Jersey (about 10 miles away from Manhattan) and we too got a sudden, torrential, gusty downpour. Either way, glad only few were hurt-though that's quite unfortunate for those poor people.
whether it was a Tornado or Not, the point Is, there was A LOT of damage, such as collapsed trees, destroyed cars, and debris everywhere. & idk about you, but i prefer my trees standing IN the ground, and not Laying ON the ground. it was a damn maze for me to get home -_-
If any of you have ever wondered what it's like to be in the center of a tornado, you can see it here. 1:12 through 1:28. Although, this guy was obviously not as bas as the big boys.
I am chuckling at the smug comments from so many Texans that claim "that's not a tornado." Yes, yes it was. In fact, according to the National Weather Service, there were TWO. And they say New Yorkers are rude! Looks like it was the Texans in this case.
That tornado (tiny) i guess or storm was creepy. Trees fell on cars and houses :/ and the trains were delayed or stopped. It was 10 min but we were all like " :O "
Yes, exactly. The National Weather Service confirmed that this was a large, wedge EF0 tornado. There are a few videos that clearly show the structure of the immense funnel. Visually, microbursts throw themselves downward and take on the appearance of a mushroom stalk. This wasn't like that - it was a funnel. This was most definitely a tornado, albeit quite a weak and large one.
Yeah, you can't really tell anything from this video, but Queens (where I was) and Brooklyn were hit extremely hard. I saw trees and patio furniture flying. Tornado or not..it did damage
@DearParticipant unfortunately a search of your name turned up nothing. Just upload the pic to your facebook account, right click on the picture and post the URL location. That's the best way to do it.
Based on my own analysis of the videos and my past experience with severe weather, the first video was the actual (F1) Tornado while the 2nd was a microburst.
The reason the warning was issued was the winds in both situations were approx. 80 to 100 MPH, and if they were any stronger, your windows would have blown out.
Tornadoes are common in my part of the country (the upper midwest) and I have lived through a few of them- mostly F0s and F1s. An F3 struck north of my town a few years ago.
I like how there's still people driving.
"Honey turn the radio station."
"Yes Mo-HOLY SHIT"
So glad you caught this! I live in Carroll Gardens and by the time I got my camera ready this was all over!
Thank you for posting your films. We have two kids living in Park Slope and Red Hook. They are ok but it is good to know what they have experienced. They call us when the temp is minus 30 and the wind is 40mph +.
Jamestown, ND
MOST tornadoes form under the storm's updraft base, which is why you find hail instead of rain under them. However, not ALL form this way. Watch some videos of close tornado intercepts and pay careful attention to the RFD when it approaches. Many are saturated with water. Some tornadoes are even rain wrapped, which is terrifying for the observer because it makes it hard to see their trajectory. I hope you were a first year meteorology student when you made that comment, with all due respect.
To clear things up, a "tornado" does not actually mean "it's on the ground". When the weather service sees strong rotation in the clouds from radar, it classifies it as a tornado and issues a warning as such. It could very well (And probably way) have been a tornado, just not one that had touched down on the ground.
@Amahrixlol: Yea, but no one said to go live out there, but people who live there KNOW what a Tornado is. Thank You.
@paleroses00 This area was under a rare tornado warning and this cell had rotation. We were warned that the tornado may not be visible because it would be "rain wrapped."
microbursts are the opposite of tornadoes. Tornadoes are associated with converging winds or winds that rush along the surface towards the funnel and sucked into the air. Microburst winds are diverging, rapidly sinking columns of air that drop down from the cloud and spread along the ground at speeds capable of tornadic or hurricane-like damage. This video is an example of a small scale wet microburst.
I live in queens and everyone keeps exaggerating about how bad the damage was. First of there was no hurricane. Just severe thunderstorms having 70mph winds gusting down trees, street poles, etc. And I agree this is nothing compared to hurricanes faced in Florida and around that region of the world.
While I do agree that the winds shown here were not directly associated with a tornado, it does appear that there was a tornado in Brooklyn. Check out the UA-cam video called "Powerful Brooklyn storm 9.16.10 (closest thing to a tornado I've ever seen)". It clearly shows the winds rapidly changing directions as they would in or near a tornado.
ppl this isn't the actual funnel...this was a powerful downburst or microburst typical of thunderstorms - straight line winds that can run in excess of 120mph and cause tremendous damage. The actual funnel was probably obscured in the wind and rain elsewhere
Standing next to a window in a 5 story high building is the safest place to be during a tornado.
Thanks for taping this. I am out in California. We heard about the storm yesterday. I have been curious about it. You movie really captures it.
I personally thought it was a squall, but according to news reports it was a tornado that came across the harbor from Staten Island and then touched down in Red Hook and moved through Park Slope.
As a meteorology student I can tell you this is not a tornado. This is downburst winds because tornadoes form under the thunderstorm updraft and rain and hail fall in the downdraft which is displace. If you look at tornado videos you will notice that precipitation is not the location of the tornado.
It depends. Tornadoes can also come out of the shelf clouds associated with severe thunderstorms, especially derechos. They just aren't as big or strong as the ones you are talking about, which come out of supercells
like I said on part 1, this is a supercell. Tornadoes typically do not contain rain. They may be preceeded by rain or hail or both, but not imbedded.
@gabrielgcox the rapidly changing speed and direction you see in the video is called wind shear and is also common in microbursts. That's not an indication of a tornado. Remember also as the air rushes down to the ground, it spreads outwards and slows down from friction at which point it begins to curl upwards and backwards creating sort of a mid-air vortex.
It happens during derechos too. Just look at all the videos of the Iowa severe derecho 8.10.2020
It looks so much different then the tornadoes you see on TV
"Wait what you say, there is going to be a tornado, Then my good sir this seems like the perfect time to go out for a quick car ride"
i live in the gateway, and the shit echoing from NYC was fucking insane. we got an intense rain storm, but NOTHING compared to what was hovering over you guys.
@DearParticipant There was no funnel cloud, except one that was reported and shown on the news. That one formed over Perth Amboy and quickly disappeared, never touching the ground. What you see in these videos is a rapidly approaching rain shaft with powerful microburst. Microbursts are like the opposite of tornadoes. Tornadoes suck air upwards, creating a tremendous twisting updraft while microburst blow air downwards.
Radar from that day even shows a bow echo
I storm chased as a hobby in Oklahoma. Believe me, if this seems bad, you don't want to be inside a tornado. This is NOT a tornado, just microbursts and straight-line winds from a powerful storm. Good footage though.
Well I might have been saying "dude look at the tree" during the video, but that is because I live next door and it's my poor tree. Makes this a little hard to watch, the branches were everywhere but it's still standing, tho.
@coxkid2000 there's no rotation here because you are looking at a flat one-dimensional view of the storm. The reference point is hard to establish. If this was directly in the vortex, nearly every car and building outside would have sustained heavy damage yet you still see cars rolling happily along. Many tornadoes have hit cities with taller structures and retained a funnel. It's a misconception to say buildings "block" a funnel from forming.
I used to call Windsor Terrace area home. I lived a few blocks away from Bishop Ford High School.
Hey guys, while I'm just a lil ole lady here, after living in Northern & Mid Al, Tennessee, & N Fl, (on Ga border), I've seen a few green sky's in my time-didn't exactly see that here. Also, when our home was blown apart by a '98 twister, the green sky, hail, silence-except 4 loud train sound preceded it-like the others.
@Keinichn A "tornado" that doesn't touch down on the ground wouldn't be one at all. It would just be a funnel cloud since there is no connection between the ground and cloud base. It's precisely when a funnel cloud or this rotating wind touches the ground that by definition it is classified as a tornado. That's with or without a condensation funnel.
btw tornadic activity is a long way from a tornado. tornadic activity just means the air is circulating in a manner that a tornado can occur.
LOOK AT YOU GUYS....Just standing in front of A WINDOW during a TORNADO and the cars dont seem to mind either... I
Fast moving thunderstorms can produce downbursts which appear to the untrained eye to be a tornado. It can only be determined to be a tornado if the damage has twisting to it... this is more to be a downburst which can be as damaging as a tornado... it was a downburst that caused a Eastern Airlines jet to crash at JFK airport in 1975...
A word of advice to NYers from someone who lives in "tornado ally": the last place you want to be standing during a tornado, is next to a window.
classic micro-burst good job on getting it on camera. its as rare as a tornado. one similar to this caused the dallas cowboys practice facility to collapse.
Beautiful footage! There could have been a tornado in there, not visible in the video. Doppler radar might help see it. I lived through the Xenia tornado in April, '74, and these two videos gave me some flashbacks! That one was huge and wide, an F5, I believe.
and also, just because trees where blown over doesn't mean it was a tornado. Yes, it was a major storm with strong winds. I know there was a torn warn out for it too, still doesn't mean that it WAS a tornado. I hope everyone is ok!!! Looks like a storm we would get here in Kansas!
I was outside and my mom was running! I got freaking soaked so I had to change up! I never knew this happened... I thought NY was the safest place...
You captured it. I'm on 19th street bro. I don't know if anyone gets that the water is blowing a half a mile UP the hill. Holy shit is right!!
thats a great video dude, crazy how it all becomes calm at the end and the fact that tree didnt go down.
There is no tornado in this footage...in fact, most likely, there wasn't a tornado at all. Just microbursts, down drafts, and straight line winds
HOLY SHIT! this is the best bow echo ive ever seen with 90-100 mph wind gusts!!!
for a storm like that would usually be in oklahoma or chicago not brooklyn!!!
Okay, so you continued filming? Brave man. I decided to stop and move to safety.
Notice how after the storm passed everything went back to normal so fast.
At first all HELL broke loose in Brooklyn. I had to make sure my daughter was safe cause she was crying the whole time.
funny how us crazy ass brooklyn people are still driving and waiting for the bus in a tornado
I love how this dude is so calm and the other guys are like "LOOK AT THAT TREE!!"
I like how the power was still on...
@DearParticipant No just right-click on that one photo...copy the Image Location and paste it on here. The image location is random and does not necessarily correlate with your profile, nor does it expose anything. it's just a picture location.
This is not a tornado!!!!
It's a fantastic microburst!!!!!
@clingcom you can see rotation in this video on UA-cam: "Powerful Brooklyn storm 9.16.10 (closest thing to a tornado I've ever seen)" I agree that the video above is associated with downburst winds, but this other one is clearly rotating.
For future reference;
Never stand by a glass window during a storm like that.
A little dangerous! :P
for those who dont know anything, new york is in the northeast and if you guys actually outside or yu had to run into a store or something, you would know if it was a tornado or not
no crap i live in the manawatu in New zealand and i swear to got it was like this on and off for two days, we are having some really crazy weather!
@charlietomb585 Just because trees went down doesn't mean it's a tornado. Gale force winds can do just about any type of damage.
@gabrielgcox right...the damage patterns will paint a much clearer picture. It's basically forensics but for the weather in this case.
Whoa! I was in an airplane over this...trying to land in EWR...I am glad we diverted!!!
whats that song in the background?
@Big- Tornado's don't come in one size. This was a relatively weak one, approx 85mph. He is IN the tornado as it touched down. You're not going to see the witch twirling around on her bike. You'll notice the first wall hits at approx :40. @1:14 is in the eye and it gets calm. The second wall comes in @1:36ish. BTW, I'm a born and raised Kansan, so don't give me this whole "You don't know real weather!" crap.
Thank you for the footage, but I would not recommend standing by a window at the top of a building during a Tornado.
@ZONKUF no i live in southern ontario canada. the storm in this video is just a thunderstorm with strong winds.
Don't forget dime-sized hail with 60-70 degree temps... Pretty nutty for us Nor-Easterners.
You must live right near me. I recognized buildings in the footage of the first half.
So I live in South Dakota and it seems like common sense NOT to be standing near a window during a sever storm such as this... Why would this seem like a good idea?
I live there and that's my tree, which did not survive, actually. The storm damaged it so badly that we cut it down a few weeks later. Watching this video makes me realize we were lucky it didn't come crashing through my roof at the time; meanwhile a huge piece of the roof of the building where the video was shot landed a block away on top of some parked cars.
its just very unusual to see storm like that in NEW YORK
It's not a tornado, it's a snow storm!
I love how all these videos are right in front of a window with no protection.. If a piece of debris hits you're so fucked.
That's brilliant. There's a possibility that a tornado might be going by so i'll just stand by the window to get it on camera.-_-
the only close call was a funnel cloud that was recorded by a woman in Perth Amboy, NJ. But it never touched land and dissipated within seconds so it was not a tornado.
@themagius not to mention in a storm like this we still go atleast 50 on the highway
the people who aren't saying its a tornado probably isn't from NY and probably some has no knowledge or never seen a tornado before. Anyways new yorkers never seen anything like this so calm your asses down.
Dude!! That was some scary weather!! I'm all the way west in Cali and that made me nervous!
@alecnovella
I don't think it had a sign "tornado" on it. Remember this isn't Oklahoma.
Very strong straight line winds but it doesn't look like a tornado.
I always thought tornados were A LOT worse, but it's just like a short storm... (I live in the Netherlands we don't have tornados here :p)
was i supposed to see something other than 3 minutes of torrential downpour on a window and crazy people still driving outside in it?
would be kick ass to chill on the roof with that weather
Are you sure this was a tornado and not just a microburst or an extremely low pressure system? I'm just wondering because I would think that with NY's older buildings there'd be more damage if it were even the slightest of tornadoes. I'm a student at Montclair State University in New Jersey (about 10 miles away from Manhattan) and we too got a sudden, torrential, gusty downpour. Either way, glad only few were hurt-though that's quite unfortunate for those poor people.
It could have been a mesoscale convective system like in a derecho. Those rotate and are large and bring destructive winds
whether it was a Tornado or Not, the point Is, there was A LOT of damage, such as collapsed trees, destroyed cars, and debris everywhere.
& idk about you, but i prefer my trees standing IN the ground, and not Laying ON the ground. it was a damn maze for me to get home -_-
wow... that is literally bucketing down rain!
looks like a regular monsoon storm to me
that ain't that bad at all. Wind, and lots of rain, thats about it. I've been in a tornado, that ain't nothing. Try driving a semi through one.
If any of you have ever wondered what it's like to be in the center of a tornado, you can see it here. 1:12 through 1:28. Although, this guy was obviously not as bas as the big boys.
It came and went so quickly.
wow i live in california and i thought lightning flashes and a tiny bit of hail was bad!!
THIS WAS A GREAT MOMENT, VIEW, SOUND, AND EMOTION...TURN THIS UP W/ STEREO.....AND WOW
@thehilitereel Where do you live tough guy?
I am chuckling at the smug comments from so many Texans that claim "that's not a tornado." Yes, yes it was. In fact, according to the National Weather Service, there were TWO. And they say New Yorkers are rude! Looks like it was the Texans in this case.
That tornado (tiny) i guess or storm was creepy. Trees fell on cars and houses :/ and the trains were delayed or stopped. It was 10 min but we were all like " :O "
Actually I kind of miss this drama in weather. I am now in Los Angele's......
Yes, exactly. The National Weather Service confirmed that this was a large, wedge EF0 tornado. There are a few videos that clearly show the structure of the immense funnel.
Visually, microbursts throw themselves downward and take on the appearance of a mushroom stalk. This wasn't like that - it was a funnel. This was most definitely a tornado, albeit quite a weak and large one.
This was a kickass disaster. Trees all over the place. Good thing the ones in my neighborhood aren't too big.
This is what we call a light rain in Miami...
oh and dude awesome footage. I totally missed the storm while on the train but saw the aftermath and was like what the hell happened? o.O
The year have 16 months?
@klayman2 you should become a meteorologist since you seem to know everything about tornadoes
Here in TX, we get storms like that here too. And that is not a Tornado, if it were it would sound like a FREIGHT TRAIN!!!
Yeah, you can't really tell anything from this video, but Queens (where I was) and Brooklyn were hit extremely hard. I saw trees and patio furniture flying. Tornado or not..it did damage
it makes me miss the winter
@bagaganja exactly! I heard a roof came off a house in Clinton Hill, on the news. Trucks were turned over on the expressway
Derechos can do those things. Check the 8.10.20 derecho videos
That's not bad, the tree on the right side of screen is still standing.
@DearParticipant unfortunately a search of your name turned up nothing. Just upload the pic to your facebook account, right click on the picture and post the URL location. That's the best way to do it.
Damn! I was in Manhattan, and it came nowhere even close to this.