This September 7th marks 25 years since one of the most destructive storms in Syracuse and Central New York history: The Labor Day Storm.
The line of storms that would move into Central New York would start late Sunday September 6th west of Toronto then raced into western New York before midnight, feeding off very warm and humid air that built into the region the day before. Between 1 and 2 am the storms moved through the Central New York area causing widespread damage.
Close to 1 am some of the first damage Central New York damage occurred in Seneca and Cayuga Counties. In Port Byron, a church was destroyed along with damaged to dozens of houses with numerous trees knocked down.
The line of storms next came into the Syracuse area causing the most destruction. Widespread damage occurred at the New York State Fairgrounds. Two workers were killed there, and the final day of the 1998 State Fair was cancelled.
Thousands of trees were either damaged or knocked down in and around the Syracuse area with Oakwood Cemetery and Thorndon Park near Syracuse University particularly hard-hit. The steeple to St. Lucy’s Catholic Church in Syracuse came down due to the winds.
At the airport, hurricane force winds of 77 mph were officially recorded, but given the damage from the Fairgrounds to the south side of Syracuse it was estimated that winds of up to 115 mph occurred. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in Central New York, some for up to a week. Damage in the Syracuse area alone was estimated at around $100 million dollars.
The storms continued east into Oneida County with considerable tree damage in the New Hartford and Utica areas.
While several tornado warnings were issued as the storms moved through Central New York that night, the survey of the damage afterwards by the National Weather Service indicated the damage was caused by a ‘derecho’ which is a line of long lasting and unusually fast-moving storms that caused damaging straight-line winds.
