The Cheektowaga Tornado of 1987

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
1:05 PM EDT FRI JULY 31, 1987

...STORM SURVEY OF THURSDAY'S TORNADO NEAR BUFFALO...

EARLY THIS MORNING REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOURED THE BUFFALO SUBURB OF CHEEKTOWAGA THAT WAS STRUCK BY A TORNADO THURSDAY AFTERNOON JULY 30, 1987.

INITIAL TOUCHDOWN OF THE FUNNEL WAS LOCATED AROUND ELKHURST AND CEDAR GROVE ROADS ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE BUFFALO AIRPORT. DAMAGE VIEWED AT 32 FERNWOOD INDICATED AN F1 TORNADO - ESTIMATED WIND SPEED OF 73 TO 112 MPH. DAMAGE PATH EXTENDED SOUTHEAST FOR ABOUT 1/4 MILE FROM THE INITIAL TOUCHDOWN WITH A WIDTH OF THE PATH OF 75 TO 100 FEET.

FROM GENESEE STREET TO THE THRUWAY FOR ABOUT 1/4 MILE LITTLE DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED. SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE BEGAN AGAIN AT PINEHURST AND WOODBINE JUST EAST OF THE THRUWAY AND CONTINUED FOR ANOTHER 1/4 MILE. AS THE TORNADO CROSSED CHEROKEE DRIVE IT GREW IN STRENGTH. GARAGES WERE LEVELED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHEROKEE DRIVE AND ROOFS WERE BLOWN OFF HOMES AT 104 MIAMI AND 849 AND 852 GEORGE URBAN. DAMAGE PATH WIDTH AT THIS POINT WAS ABOUT 175 FEET. BASED ON THE DAMAGE...TORNADO STRENGTH PROBABLY REACHED F2 AT THIS TIME...113 TO 157 MPH.

TREE TOPS WERE SKIMMED FOR ABOUT 1/4 MILE UNTIL THE TORNADO HIT THE PUTT PUTT GOLF COURSE ON UNION ROAD. A STRUCTURAL STEEL BILLBOARD WAS
COMPLETELY BENT TO THE GROUND AND DEBRIS WAS BLOWN ACROSS THE STREET TO THE HOLIDAY SHOWCASE RESTAURANT. PART OF THE ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF THE RESTAURANT AND SUPPORTS CAVED IN. DAMAGE PATH WAS ABOUT 50 FEET AT THIS POINT AND INTENSITY OF THE TORNADO WAS PROBABLY ON THE UPPER END OF AN F1. DAMAGE ENDED JUST SOUTHEAST OF THIS AREA.

LIFE OF THE TORNADO WAS ONLY MINUTES, PROBABLY 10 MINUTES AT MOST FROM INITIAL TOUCHDOWN AROUND 4:30 PM UNTIL FINAL LIFTOFF. EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS AT THE RESTAURANT INDICATED THE FUNNEL WAS MOVING SLOW ENOUGH FOR THEM TO GET ALL THE PATRONS TO THE BASEMENT. 15 MPH MIGHT BE A GOOD SPEED ESTIMATE. PATH WIDTH VARIED FROM 50 TO 175 FEET. IT ALSO APPEARS OVER THE TOTAL PATH LENGTH OF ABOUT 1 1/2 MILES THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 3 TIMES.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Cheektowaga
• Buffalo
• Tornado
• Twister
• 1987
• WKBW
• Eyewitness
• News
• Irv
• Weinstein

[Getemgregg]

I like hurricanes

[MrTraindude]

@Getemgregg We only have tornadoes in Cheektowaga!

[Gorette66]

Channel 7's music has never changed.

[MrTraindude]

@Gorette66 You're right!

[StukInBuf]

I was at the Pizza Hut on Union Road, just south of the Putt Putt, when it happened.

While the twister wrecked the Putt Putt and the Holiday Showcase restaurant across the street from it, all Pizza Hut suffered was a few downed shingles from its roof.

Mom didn't let me hear the end of it when I got home!

Less than a year later, in a school play, we alluded to this event by having "two tickets to *Gone with the Wind* at Holiday Showcase" as part of the script.

[MrTraindude]

@StukInBuf That's a cool story, thanks for sharing. I live in Cheektowaga but was vacationing in Virginia when that happened. I heard all about the tornado that evening from a relative who phoned me.

[GETEMGRAG]

Yea it was a joke

[domirules28]

'87 overall was a year of weather extremes...especially during the summer....this tornado (a rarity in western new york) struck in the midst of one of the hottest summers in 50 years...(at that point)....

[radiodj1520]

In This Clip, From 0:00 To 0:31, It Was WKBW-TV's Channel 7 Eyewitness News Nightcast Video Open From Thursday Night, July 30, 1987.

[StukInBuf]

@sarah51580 Would be better if the theme was Frank Gari's then-updated rendition of "Cool Hand Luke/Tar Sequence."

[StukInBuf]

@imgort I know that Mary Travers is now a politician in Orchard Park; married to John Murphy all these years.

Whatever has become of Messrs. Collin and Brown?