During Friday afternoon and early evening of May 31, a strong cold front clashed with a very unstable air mass across eastern New York State. In addition, there were strong and divergent winds aloft.  All of these parameters set the stage for the largest widespread severe event in eastern New York State in exactly four years.  Including adjacent New England, 42 warnings were issued  from the Albany office, and nearly as many severe events took place.  While most of the events were strong winds associated with the thunderstorms, large hail was reported and two tornados confirmed by a National Weather Service Team.  A line of thunderstorms first entered  Herkimer County, where numerous trees fell in the town of  Ilion. Then, the first of two seperate tornados briefly touched down in Johnstown, Fulton County. That tornado was ranked as a F1 on the Fujita scale with top winds estimated around 100 mph, a width of 25 yards and a path length of about a tenth of a mile. The tornado damaged an old movie theater in that town by tearing the roof off and blowing out the supporting back brick wall. The debris was thrown up to a third of a mile away. Thunderstorm downburst winds also toppled 2/3 of WENT radio's tower and destroyed a wide swath of trees, 8-18 inches in diameter, from about a 1/2 mile southeast of Johnstown to about 1/2 of a mile across Route 30A. Many roads were temporarily closed in and around Johnstown as the result of  downed and uprooted trees and large limbs. As the line of storms progressed to the east, minor to moderate wind damage, mainly downed trees and power lines, were noted at various places in Albany, Washington,Warren, Saratoga Schenectady, Schoharie, Columbia, Montgomery, and Rensselaer, Counties. In Dutchess County, in addition to scattered downed trees and wires countywide, a car was crushed by a tree near Poughkeepsie. Ulster County was especially hard hit, with trees and power lines reported down countywide. The second confirmed tornado touched down at Whaley Lake in southeast Dutchess County. This tornado was also ranked between an F0/F1 on the Fujita scale with winds estimated around 75 mph and witnessed by a skywarn spotter.  This tornado was about 100 yards wide and had a length of approximately half a mile. Damage was mainly confined to many downed and twisted trees, but one large tree did fall on a small house near the lake and damaged the roof. The tree size ranged between 8 and 24 inches in diameter. Dime-size hail was first reported in Johnstown, Fulton County from a second distinct thunderstorm cell. Hail, as large as 1.75 inches fell in New Paltz, Ulster County .  In Dutchess County, dime-size hail fell at Salt Point, while one inch hail was reported at Wingdale (very close to the tornado touchdown) and 1.25 inch hail was noted in Poughkeepsie. One and three quarter inch size hail was reported. The thunderstorms knocked out  power to about 9,000 customers in eastern New  York, with nearly a third of these in the  Mohawk Valley. Despite all the severe weather, no weather-related casualities were reported to the National Weather Service.

Hail in DUTCHESS, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 14:25:00 to 31-MAY-02 14:25:00 (EST)
Location: SALT PT
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in COLUMBIA, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 15:12:00 to 31-MAY-02 15:12:00 (EST)
Location: CLAVERACK
Property damage: 12K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in FULTON, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 15:38:00 to 31-MAY-02 15:38:00 (EST)
Location: JOHNSTOWN
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in MONTGOMERY, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 15:55:00 to 31-MAY-02 15:59:00 (EST)
Location: GLEN
Magnitude: 71 M
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in WASHINGTON, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:24:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:24:00 (EST)
Location: FT ANN
Property damage: 11K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in WARREN, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:29:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:29:00 (EST)
Location: GLENS FALLS
Property damage: 25K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in SARATOGA, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:24:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:24:00 (EST)
Location: SARATOGA SPGS
Property damage: 27K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in WASHINGTON, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:29:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:29:00 (EST)
Location: WHITEHALL
Property damage: 10K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in MONTGOMERY, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:30:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:30:00 (EST)
Location: FT JOHNSON
Property damage: 29K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:55:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:55:00 (EST)
Location: ROTTERDAM
Magnitude: 60 M
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in WASHINGTON, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 14:30:00 to 31-MAY-02 14:30:00 (EST)
Location: COUNTYWIDE
Property damage: 50K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in RENSSELAER, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 14:20:00 to 31-MAY-02 14:20:00 (EST)
Location: HOOSICK
Property damage: 15K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in ULSTER, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:06:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:06:00 (EST)
Location: NEW PALTZ
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in SARATOGA, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:09:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:09:00 (EST)
Location: SARATOGA SPGS
Property damage: 20K
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

Thunderstorm Wind in SCHOHARIE, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:10:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:10:00 (EST)
Location: COBLESKILL
Property damage: 15K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in SCHOHARIE, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:10:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:10:00 (EST)
Location: RICHMONDVILLE
Property damage: 17K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in SCHOHARIE, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:15:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:15:00 (EST)
Location: MIDDLEBURG
Property damage: 9K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:17:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:17:00 (EST)
Location: ROTTERDAM
Property damage: 8K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in DUTCHESS, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:36:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:36:00 (EST)
Location: SALT PT
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in RENSSELAER, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:42:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:42:00 (EST)
Location: TROY
Property damage: 25K
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in DUTCHESS, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 16:45:00 to 31-MAY-02 16:45:00 (EST)
Location: DOVER PLAINS
Magnitude: 1.00 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in ULSTER, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 17:10:00 to 31-MAY-02 17:10:00 (EST)
Location: COUNTYWIDE
Property damage: 30K
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

Hail in DUTCHESS, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 17:35:00 to 31-MAY-02 17:35:00 (EST)
Location: POUGHKEEPSIE
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 2K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Tornado in DUTCHESS, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 18:03:00 to 31-MAY-02 18:03:00 (EST)
Location: WHALEY LAKE
Tornado F-scale: F1
Property damage: 35K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in DUTCHESS, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 18:10:00 to 31-MAY-02 18:10:00 (EST)
Location: WINGDALE
Magnitude: 1.00 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in HERKIMER, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 12:15:00 to 31-MAY-02 12:15:00 (EST)
Location: ILION
Property damage: 9K
Reported by: DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

Tornado in FULTON, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 12:55:00 to 31-MAY-02 12:55:00 (EST)
Location: JOHNSTOWN
Tornado F-scale: F1
Property damage: 200K
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY

Thunderstorm Wind in MONTGOMERY, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:00:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:00:00 (EST)
Location: AMSTERDAM
Property damage: 50K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Thunderstorm Wind in FULTON, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 12:55:00 to 31-MAY-02 12:55:00 (EST)
Location: GLOVERSVILLE
Property damage: 15K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in ULSTER, NEW YORK
From 31-MAY-02 13:23:00 to 31-MAY-02 13:23:00 (EST)
Location: NEW PALTZ
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 2K
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER