ADAMS CENTER, New York (WWNY) – A tornado warning issued Wednesday night marked one of the earliest on record for the North Country.
The warning was the region’s first of the season and among the earliest in recent history, according to the National Weather Service.
“We actually did look up all of the tornado warnings at least for Lewis and Jefferson counties, going all the way back to 1993. We do have a spatter of them in June, though a vast majority were in July or August,” said Phillip Pandolfo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
Increase in warnings
According to the National Weather Service, there have been 24 warnings since 1994. Fourteen of them have been in the last five years.
Better technology has contributed to the increase.
“It gives us a much better idea, able to see the circulations with a lot more clarity, and get a better picture of what’s going on inside the whole storm,” Pandolfo said.
While there have been many tornado warnings, only a few have produced tornadoes.
Since 2023, confirmed touchdowns have happened in the town of Ava in Oneida County, the town of Redfield in Oswego County, North Osceola, and Worth.
Tornado alley pattern
The region is becoming known as the North Country’s tornado alley, or tornado diamond.
“We actually do see a concentration of them kind of clustered around the northern Oneida, far southern Lewis County area. Just south of the Tug Hill Plateau area,” Pandolfo said.
Between 500 and 1,000 trees remain down at Snow Ridge Ski Resort from an EF3 tornado that moved through Turin in 2023.
“Haven’t been able to get to them, and honestly, I’ll be surprised if we ever do get to them,” said Nick Mir, general manager of Snow Ridge Ski Resort.
“All the trailers were on the ground, trees everywhere, absolute carnage,” Mir said.
The tornado caused insurance rates to increase at Snow Ridge, leaving the resort in a vulnerable position if another tornado were to touch down.
“The offers they give us are so outrageous, it’s not something that’s in the cards anymore,” Mir said.
Mir said tornado warnings now carry more weight.
“Whether it’s around me or anywhere else in the state, I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’” he said.
Wednesday’s warning brought no reports of a tornado or water spout.
Copyright 2026 WWNY. All rights reserved.