SEPTEMBER 7, 1998
DERECHOS
"The
Labor Day Derechos of 1998"
Figure 1. Area affected by the two September 7, 1998 derecho events (outlined in green and red). Curved purple lines represent the approximate locations of the "gust fronts" at two hourly intervals. "+" symbols indicate the locations of wind damage or wind gusts (measured or estimated) above severe limits (58 mph or greater). Red dots and paths indicate tornado events.
"Syracuse Derecho of Labor Day 1998"
Just before midnight on Sunday evening September 6, 1998 a derecho developed over western New York and moved rapidly eastward during the early morning hours of Labor Day (September 7th) reaching the coast of New England by 6 AM EDT. Wind damage occurred in much of the area outlined in green on Fig. 1. Some of the worst storm damage occurred in a band across western and central New York from Rochester to Syracuse to near Utica. The derecho storm system reached the Syracuse region ("S" on Fig. 1) just after 1 AM EDT. Three people were killed and 10 were injured in Syracuse mostly at the New York State Fairgrounds. Measured wind gusts of 89 mph at the Rochester Airport and 77 mph at the Syracuse airport were recorded. Winds were estimated to have reached 115 mph in the worst damage areas. Along the derecho storm track tens of thousands of trees were blown down and over 1000 homes and businesses were damaged. Damage was estimated at about 130 million dollars. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost power with some remaining without power for a week.
A radar reflectivity image and animated loops for the Syracuse Labor Day Derecho event have been provided by NWS meteorologist Jeff Waldstreicher. The thunderstorm system that produced the derecho began as a supercell. This supercell then evolved into a bow echo as is shown by an animated NWS Buffalo radar loop. This bow echo storm system then proceeds across central New York and the Syracuse area (SYR) and grows in scale as shown by an animated NWS Binghamton radar loop.
Damage photos can be found on the NWS web sites at Buffalo (pics1)
and Binghamton (pics2).
Additional information on the Syracuse Derecho event can be found on the Binghamton
NY NWS web
site.
"New York City Derecho of Labor Day 1998"
As the "Syracuse Labor Day Derecho" was moving into New England, a new derecho storm system began developing over southeastern lower Michigan around 4 AM EDT on Labor Day morning. This event, known as the "New York City Derecho of Labor Day 1998" (outlined in red on Fig. 1) raced eastward across northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania during the morning and early afternoon, reaching the New York City metropolitan area ("N" on Fig. 1) by mid afternoon. Most of the casualties occurred from extreme eastern Pennsylvania through northern New Jersey into the New York City metropolitan area where 4 people were killed and 62 were injured. Almost all of the deaths and injuries were the result of people being hit by falling trees or being in boats that were overturned. Thousands of trees were blown down and about 100 boats were overturned. About 130 homes and businesses were damaged. Over 300,000 customers lost power and some did not get power restored until 5 days after the event.
As a result of the two derecho events on Labor Day of 1998 much of the northeastern U.S. was battered with winds that caused a tremendous amount of storm damage and power outages to hundreds of thousands of customers. Further, 7 people lost there lives and 78 others were injured.
(References......Waldstreicher, 1998; Storm Data for September 1998)