Northeast Pennsylvania County Ranks High For Number Of Tornadoes

This week, (week of April 15-19, 2024), the U.S. National Weather Service Binghamton has been giving some great information for Severe Weather Awareness Week in Pennsylvania.

The information is relevant to any state in the U.S. for that matter. Each day the National Weather Service Binghamton Facebook page explains one type of weather event that can occur in our area and steps to take to be safe, including the difference between an outlook, watch, and warning.

On the topic of tornadoes, the Southern Tier of New York and Northeast Pennsylvania have had more than our share of them rolling through the area over the years, some more damaging than others.

In Pennsylvania, one of the counties near Binghamton ranks higher than most counties for the number of tornadoes recorded between 1950 and 2023. That would be Bradford County, which is where I just happen to camp most summer weekends and vacations. If I read the chart below correctly, Bradford County lands at #11 out of 67 counties in Pennsylvania for number of tornadoes recorded between those years.

Now how about New York State? Where do Southern Tier counties land on the list of most tornadoes? According to Sacker.com, between the years 2000 and 2022:

Chenango County - 8
Steuben County - 7
Broome County - 6
Chemung County - 5

Slacker.com also notes that as of August 2023, 75 people had died from tornadoes that year, with over 60 percent of those deaths occurring in mobile homes.