Buffalo’s summer set records with high heat, tornadoes

This summer broke the list of the top 10 hottest summers in Buffalo.

It also marked the most tornadoes in Western New York in more than 30 years, with six tornadoes – yes, six – touching down across three counties in the region. Most were byproducts of Hurricane Beryl, whose wet and windy northeast rampage wreaked havoc across the state and the country.

“This is, by far and away, a historical summer in terms of tornadoes,” said Phillip Pandolfo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

In fact, New York State has never had more tornadoes in one summer than it had this summer.

Saturday closed out the end of the meteorological summer in North America, which runs from June through August, setting records for heat and extreme weather.

That was just fine for West Side resident Jeremiah Alvarado, a self-professed “weather guy” who was soaking in the sun and atmosphere at Buffalo Canalside during the Bills Mafia Boat Parade early Sunday afternoon, which featured a flotilla of yachts flying Bills and Mafia flags and blasting music like “Rockin’ With Da Bills” by Dom Brown.

He called unpredictable and fluctuating weather patterns an incredible thrill.

“The way the weather’s been, how hot it’s been, then we’ll have our rainy days, and then the crazy part with the tornado, it’s all been amazing,” he said.

We normally associate tornadoes with the Midwest. But the remnants of Hurricane Beryl seemed to touch off tornadoes everywhere.

New York State had a record 26 tornadoes this summer, surpassing the record of 25 in 1992. Of that number, six of them were in the Western New York region, Pandolfo said.

That includes four tornadoes that spun off on July 10, damaging the areas of West Falls in the Town of Aurora, the towns of Arkwright and Hanover in Chautauqua County, the Town of Alexander in Genesee County, and the Town of Eden in Erie County.

Another minor tornado touched down in the Town of Pavilion in Genesee County on July 15, and finally, the City of Buffalo was struck by its own tornado on Aug. 5.

Most were considered weak tornadoes on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, except for the one in Eden, which was struck by an EF-2 tornado with winds ranging from 111 to 135 mph.

The last time so many tornadoes struck the region was 30 years ago in 1994, when the region was struck by eight tornadoes, Pandolfo said.

“Those two years are definitely outliers,” he said. “There’s been plenty of years when there’s been zero.”

Some Canalside visitors on Sunday were surprised to learn that this summer marked the seventh hottest summer on record in the Buffalo area.

That’s because the month of August was only 0.7 degrees above normal. But June and July were hotter.

June boasted three days at 90 degrees or higher, with overall temperatures for that month averaging out to 3.3 degrees higher than normal, said National Weather Service Meteorologist David Thomas, who predicted on Friday, “It’ll be a top 10 warmest summer.”

He was right. 2024 reached seventh place for summer heat in Buffalo.

July was slightly cooler but was still 2.5 degrees above normal. And while August was much closer to normal, it still hit 90 degrees last Tuesday.

Rainfall hasn’t been terribly unusual, but humidity has been high, particularly early in the summer, Thomas said.

Canalside visitor Jojo Glorioso – decked out in his blue, furry, horned Buffalo Bills hat – described the summer as “too fast, but beautiful.”

“We get a lot of warm days in the fall, too,” she said, “so that helps.”