National Uptick in Tornadoes Affects the Hamptons

The National Weather Service announced a prediction about tornados that will affect us.

Historically, an average of 80 tornadoes roar through the nation during the month of March. Last year, however, the country was crushed by 208. The new weather service prediction for 2024 says there should be fewer than that this year.

During March the tornados will largely occur in the deep South, from Florida to Texas. In April, they should appear in Tornado Alley — Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and parts of Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Colorado. But then in May, the situation becomes dangerous in the Northeast — our neck of the woods, in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The number expected is between 250 and 375 whereas the year before it was 172.

Tornadoes in our area have been an occasional problem in prior years. Hurricanes have been the big worry. But in recent years, hurricanes start out in the Caribbean but then veer into the Gulf of Mexico to tear things up in Louisiana, Texas and the west coast of Florida. The Gulf Stream has changed, it’s said.

Hurricanes come with an advanced warning. You see them charging up the coast. But with tornados there’s just “Look out!” and get out of the way — if you can. It’s alarming. And very spooky.

In 1989, the first tornado since record-keeping began in 1950 hit the Hamptons. I reported on it. It picked up steam is it roared silently across Long Island Sound late one night, coming into Three Mile Harbor where it tore the roof off one of the marina buildings across the street from my house, then ripped the top of my chimney off, blew away a tree house I’d built but never got to see ever again, then lifted up and came down a second time on Main Street in downtown Bridgehampton, tearing up trees to finally demolish a greenhouse at Thayer’s Hardware & Patio before petering out where Butter Lane meets Main Street just before it might have reached what was then the home office of Dan’s Papers.

Since that time, many have come through the Hamptons, the most recent a group of six that scurried through Quogue and Shinnecock in 2021.