Remember the Labor Day Storm of 1998?
It was 28 years ago today, in the early morning hours of September 7, 1998, when a powerful line of thunderstorms and damaging winds tore across Central New York and through Utica and the Mohawk Valley.
If you were living here at the time, you may remember waking up Labor Day morning to quite a mess.
It wasn’t just a bad thunderstorm. It was a derecho — a long line of severe storms with damaging winds. The National Weather Service in Binghamton still has a page about that night, including the old radar, photos and reports from around the region.
The storm reached Oneida County just before 2 a.m., first hitting the Verona area before moving through Westmoreland and then Utica and New Hartford around 2:15 to 2:20 in the morning.
By daylight, large tree limbs and power lines were down all over the area. In downtown Utica, some of the main streets were closed through the morning because of fallen limbs, wires and damaged traffic signals.
A large highway sign was blown down onto I-790, temporarily closing part of the highway. In New Hartford, the windows of a restaurant were blown out, causing major damage inside from flying glass and debris.
Clinton and Kirkland got another surprise — golf-ball-size hail. Cars in the area were left with dents and other damage.
Tens of thousands of customers spent much of Labor Day without electricity. In some of the harder-hit areas around Utica and Waterville, homes and businesses didn’t get their power back for as long as four days.
And Utica wasn’t alone. This was part of a much larger storm that caused tremendous damage across New York. The Syracuse area was especially hard hit, with widespread structural damage, thousands of trees down and fatalities.
It’s one of those events that you may not have thought about in years, but seeing that old radar or hearing someone mention it can suddenly bring back memories.
Do you remember the Labor Day Storm of 1998? Where were you living, and what do you remember about the storm or waking up the next morning?
