This tornado shattered a myth when it struck New York City
The EF-2 twister tore through neighbourhoods in Brooklyn on a summer day in 2007
Tornadoes can and do strike city centres.
Thousands of residents found this out first-hand on a steamy August morning in 2007 when a powerful tornado tore through densely populated neighbourhoods in New York City.
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An unusual round of intense thunderstorms swept through the Northeastern U.S. during the pre-dawn hours on Aug. 8, 2007, generating reports of high winds and flash flooding along the way.
Thunderstorms are common along the East Coast during the heat of a summer’s day. But it was strange to experience such powerful storms so early in the day.
Some of those thunderstorms began to rotate as they entered New York City, prompting widespread tornado warnings for the region. Officials reported a brief touchdown on Staten Island as the foul weather moved east.
A significant tornado formed in Brooklyn during the 6:00 a.m. hour, carving a path that measured more than 6 km long and nearly 100 metres wide in spots.
The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that the tornado was an EF-2, uprooting trees and causing significant structural damage to homes and businesses throughout the borough.
Flying debris injured several people, but the count remained relatively low despite the chaos unfolding during rush hour.
Despite the long-held myth, tornadoes don’t avoid cities. History holds a long list of twisters striking urban areas around the world. The only reason it seems tornadoes avoid city centres is that they're relatively small targets, and the odds of a twister hitting any one spot on Earth's surface is very low.
The NWS’s official count holds 11 tornadoes confirmed within New York’s city limits between 1950 and 2025. The 2007 Brooklyn tornado was the strongest of the bunch.