A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for the northeastern Finger Lakes region. The local counties included in the watch are, alphabetically:
- Cayuga
- Cortland
- Onondaga
- Seneca
- Tioga (added at 4 PM)
- Tompkins (added at 4 PM)
- Wayne
A line of storms will drop south-southeast, clipping the region. Further development along its western edge over our area is also possible. Damaging winds, frequent lightning, and torrential downpours will be the primary threats.
The shape of the watch is a bit perplexing based on this storm movement, so I could see Tompkins and Tioga counties possibly being added in later. 4PM EDIT: Tompkins and Tioga counties have been added to the watch.
The watch probabilities include an 70% chance for 10 or more severe wind events over the entire watch area, which also covers much of central and eastern New York. There is also a 20% chance each for 2 or more tornadoes and 10 or more severe hail events. These are very typical probabilities similar to what we see multiple times per year in a watch.
The watch goes until 8 PM, but the main threat for our region will be between 3-6 PM.
Ted Schiele
Walnut size hail around 5 pm, Buck Rd below Rt 34, Lansing. Here on Cobb St we got just over a quarter inch of rain. Around the same time I’d guess. I can post a photo of the hail on Insta.