What a morning!

[Sean Riley Taylor's Mom]

Jeez, glad you all in "the city" are okay!!

We only had some rain here on Long Island. Nothing compared to what you guys got.
Wacky weather. Today is beautiful and sunny. Tomorrow I heard rain again.

[ImagiAsh]

Yup! NYC was CRAZY yesterday. I work right in midtown, but I commute from Long Island. The train into the city took 2 hours when it normally takes 1 and when we got into Penn Station NYPD was all over the place with megaphones announcing that all subways were shut down. Us New Yorkers are very nice people except when provoked by situations like this. Everyone (including myself ) were letting out a few bad words as we tried to get out of the chaos of Penn. I finally emerged near the Taxi loading area and the wait appeared to be at least an hour and a half long. Instead, I had to walk 24 blocks up to my job in Columbus Circle. I got to my job at 11. I normally get there by 9. Funny thing is, I was the first one there!! Coworkers were stuck all over the city.

[BronxTigger]

Yup! NYC was CRAZY yesterday. I work right in midtown, but I commute from Long Island. The train into the city took 2 hours when it normally takes 1 and when we got into Penn Station NYPD was all over the place with megaphones announcing that all subways were shut down. Us New Yorkers are very nice people except when provoked by situations like this. Everyone (including myself ) were letting out a few bad words as we tried to get out of the chaos of Penn. I finally emerged near the Taxi loading area and the wait appeared to be at least an hour and a half long. Instead, I had to walk 24 blocks up to my job in Columbus Circle. I got to my job at 11. I normally get there by 9. Funny thing is, I was the first one there!! Coworkers were stuck all over the city.

Yeah, the day Lexington blew up got pretty heated too with the traffic/subway situation (which I got stuck in the middle of), but it was nothing compared to yesterday.

24 blocks in yesterday's heat and humidity?!? Good for you. You should go to WDW tomorrow because now you're all ready LOL. I saw Penn on tv and it looked pretty ugly. Glad you got through it okay.

[TikiGoddess]

Glad to hear everyone is okay! And here's hoping you have great weather in FL, those of you going soon!

TikiG

[Strmchsr]

Here's the official NWS report confirming an EF2 touchdown:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
SPOTTER REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY
705 PM EDT WED AUG 8 2007

...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS CONFIRM EF-2 TORNADO IN
NEW YORK CITY TODAY...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS ALONG WITH NEW YORK CITY
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS HAVE CONFIRMED THAT A TORNADO SKIPPED
ALONG AN APPROXIMATE 9 MILE LONG PATH FROM STATEN ISLAND TO BROOKLYN
EARLY THIS MORNING.

THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN IN STATEN ISLAND AT APPROXIMATELY
6:22 AM IN THE VICINITY OF ST. AUSTINS PLACE IN THE LIVINGSTON -
RANDALL MANOR AREA. THE TORNADO MOVED EAST...WITH ADDITIONAL DAMAGE
OCCURRING IN THE TOMPKINSVILLE AREA. MOST OF THE DAMAGE IN STATEN
ISLAND WAS TO TREES...AND ESTIMATED TO BE EF-1...WITH WINDS OF 86 TO
100 MPH.

THE TORNADO HEADED EAST ACROSS THE VERRAZANO NARROWS...AND TOUCHED
DOWN AGAIN IN BROOKLYN AT BAY RIDGE. THIS OCCURRED SOMETIME JUST
AFTER 6:30 AM 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 SQUARE...WHERE SEVERE DAMAGE
TO TREES OCCURRED. AS THE TORNADO LIFTED...IT TORE OFF THE ROOF OF
THE 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 6TH AVENUE. BASED ON THE ASSESSED
DAMAGE...THIS TORNADIC DAMAGE IS CLASSIFIED AS EF-2 WITH ESTIMATED
WIND SPEEDS OF 111 TO 135 MPH.

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 5 HOMES...AND TREE DAMAGE INDICATES STRONG
EF-1 DAMAGE.

THE TORNADO THEN HEADED EAST...AND TOUCHED DOWN AGAIN IN THE
FLATBUSH VICINITY AT APPROXIMATELY 6:40 AM. NUMEROUS
TREES...APPROXIMATELY 30...WERE UPROOTED ALONG OCEAN AVENUE BETWEEN
BEVERLEY ROAD AND CHURCH AVENUE. THE DAMAGE ALSO EXTENDED TO THE
WEST TO ARGYLE ROAD.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAD ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING FOR
PORTIONS OF STATEN ISLAND AND BROOKLYN AT 6:28 AM. A SECOND TORNADO
WARNING WAS ISSUED AT 6:50 AM FOR SECTIONS OF
BROOKLYN...QUEENS...AND NASSAU COUNTY.

That said, while tornadoes in this are are not as common as they are here in Alabama, they aren't unknown either. This is the seventh time since 1950 that a significant tornado (EF2+) has struck somewhere in the NWS Upton CWA (the smallest, but most populous, in the country) at least twice in two consecutive years. (1950-51, 1955-56, 1970-71, 1973-74, 1988-89-90, 2006-07). And how many people there have weather radios?? Hopefully this myth will be put to bed with this event.

[BronxTigger]

I have a radio with a weather button on it, but is it ever on?? I don't even know where it is! And all New Yorkers are supposed to have an emergency "Go Bag" with supplies to evacuate quickly due to weather or terrorism. Ooops...maybe I need to get that together.

WNBC4's radar showed cloud rotation (they have cool spinny things that go over the colors) and also the radar had black and pink splotches during that storm.

[ElenitaB]

Thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Chris. Living just 4 blocks from the official touchdown site here in Brooklyn (and two blocks from the Verrazano Narrows Channel), it was a pretty scary experience. Even it hadn't officially touched down yet, I'm sure it was definitely getting ready to... we had damage but no other buildings or houses around us did. I'm sure someone was taking extensive pictures of its path yesterday as there were helicopters overhead practically all day.

I think I'll be getting our "Go Bag" together too, AND buying a radio with a weather alert. In the meantime, I'm going to add severe weather alerts to my cell phone.

[BronxTigger]

I think I'll be getting our "Go Bag" together too, AND buying a radio with a weather alert. In the meantime, I'm going to add severe weather alerts to my cell phone.

Maybe we could have another NYC Intercot Meet. We could meet at Target to purchase supplies and then move to a park to assemble our Go Bags.

[ImagiAsh]

Maybe we could have another NYC Intercot Meet. We could meet at Target to purchase supplies and then move to a park to assemble our Go Bags.

I'll be there!!

[ElenitaB]

As promised earlier this week, here are my pics from Wednesday morning.

[BronxTigger]

As promised earlier this week, here are my pics from Wednesday morning.

Thanks!

It's a good thing that bathroom window was closed, or you could have opened a new Rainforest Cafe.

I think I saw that white SUV on tv. I think in some ways the timing was good because people hadn't yet gotten in those cars to drive to work. Can you imagine if that street was full of cars with people in them?

That is bizarre the way the grass is flattened.

[BronxTigger]

Yeah, okay. REALLY need to get that Go Bag put together. The FDNY just left a few minutes ago. The neighbor's oven caught fire; the whole floor was soooooo smoky (my eyes and throat are burning). The scary thing (and I'm going to be calling the management tomorrow) is that NONE of the smoke detector's in this guy's apartment or in the hallway went off. MINE went off, but no others! And I even asked the FDNY about it and they just said to talk to the super. Um...the super didn't even come up to find out what was going on.

Luckily, everything is fine now except for a bit of smoke. But this could have gotten real ugly, and it demonstrates why we need insurance and to be prepared for this kind of thing. I think I might get a little home fire extinguisher too....the guy that started the fire doesn't even seem to be bothered by it all.

[SBETigg]

Yeah, okay. REALLY need to get that Go Bag put together. The FDNY just left a few minutes ago. The neighbor's oven caught fire; the whole floor was soooooo smoky (my eyes and throat are burning).
I think I might get a little home fire extinguisher too....the guy that started the fire doesn't even seem to be bothered by it all.

Wow, that is scary. Glad you're okay, and it does serve as a reminder to be prepared, I guess. Sad that the person who started it doesn't seem concerned.

[ElenitaB]

Glad you're okay. Doubly sad and triply annoying that the super was MIA! I'd consider a little note with my check in next month's rent. It might be that only your fire alarked worked because it had working batteries in it. The super is supposed to remind everyone to change them (but not change them himself) at least once a year.

[BronxTigger]

Glad you're okay. Doubly sad and triply annoying that the super was MIA! I'd consider a little note with my check in next month's rent. It might be that only your fire alarked worked because it had working batteries in it. The super is supposed to remind everyone to change them (but not change them himself) at least once a year.

The smoke alarms I'm most concerned about that weren't working were the ones that the super/landlord/management agency installed less than a year ago in the common hallway. There are two of them, and neither one worked, and there was clearly enough smoke to set them off (I could barely see down the hall at one point).

I could still smell the smoke this morning, and the windows were open all night.

I'm just happy everything is okay.