Two Confirmed Tornadoes Hit Cattaraugus County in Western NY Sunday Evening

Two more tornadoes have now been confirmed by the National Weather Service office in Buffalo that struck Cattaraugus County in the southwestern corner of New York Sunday night, just a few miles from the Pennsylvania border.

Tornado over the Allegany Reservoir in Onoville, New York

Tornado Details – Oroville/Steamburg, NY

Date: 07/26/2009
Estimated Time: 6:50pm EDT
Maximum EF-Scale Rating: EF1
Estimated Maximum Wind Speed: 90-95 mph
Maximum Path Width: 75 yards
Path Length: 4.5 miles
Beginning Latitude/Longitude: 42.02N / 79.06 W
Ending Latitude/Longitude: 42.04N / 78.94 W
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 1

The Onoville tornado touched down in southwest Cattaraugus County Sunday evening, damaging docks and boats at the Onoville Marina.  A few trailers were moved, but one was rolled over.  Several awnings were also destroyed.  One minor injury was reported.

Tornado Details – Cain Hollow/Cold Spring – Allegany State Park, NY

Date: 07/26/2009
Estimated Time: 7:10pm EDT
Maximum EF-Scale Rating: EF0
Estimated Maximum Wind Speed: 75-80 mph
Maximum Path Width: 30 yards
Path Length: 0.50 miles
Beginning Latitude/Longitude: 42.04N / 78.90W
Ending Latitude/Longitude: 42.05N / 78.79W
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

The tornado touched down in the Cain Hollow area of Allegany State Park, near Cold Spring.  Fifteen to twenty trees were damaged or felled by the tornado’s impact.  No injuries were reported.

Television stations in Buffalo and Rochester covered these latest tornadoes as part of their newscasts.  Video can be found below the jump.

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Cleanup Continues After Tornadoes Hit Western NY

The circled area indicates the general vicinity of the tornado's impact (click to enlarge)

The bad weather is gone, but the impact of this past weekend’s tornadoes will be with the communities they targeted for sometime to come.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo also officially confirmed Saturday’s tornado in the Rochester suburb of Hilton:

Tornado Details – Hilton, New York

Date: 07/25/2009
Estimated Time: 5:55 pm EDT
Maximum EF-Scale Rating: EF0
Estimated Maximum Wind Speed: 75 mph
Maximum Path Width: 30 yards
Path Length: 0.75 miles
Beginning Latitude/Longitude: 43.28N / 77.79W
Ending Latitude/Longitude: 43.28N / 77.28W
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Initial touchdown occurred on the southern edge of the village, just west of Hilton-Parma Road/Route 259 and continued in a northeast direction for approximately three-quarters of a mile.  The tornado was not on the ground for the entire time.  Most of the damage was to trees, however one home sustained structural damage.  Other outdoor articles, including patio furniture, trampolines, and toys were tossed about by the tornado.

Power and other utilities were restored by Monday to the majority of the 250 residents affected by the Hilton tornado, with the exception of those who had lines ripped from the side of their homes by nearby falling limbs or debris.  Utilities were also largely restored for those in Corfu and Darien.  In Genesee County, law enforcement and volunteer fire departments had been responding to dangerous conditions, particularly those that threaten or impact traffic.  Local government officials are coordinating with the impacted county emergency operations teams to coordinate cleanup activities.

Private homeowners will be forced to deal with tree and home damage themselves, unfortunately.  For those with relatively minor damage, cleanup is being done by homeowners often with the help of nearby friendly neighbors.  For those with $1000 or more in damage or cleanup costs, an insurance claim is probably warranted.  Most homeowner policies have provisions to cover cleanup, but check your policy for applicable deductibles.  If out of pocket costs after the deductible end up being less than $500, it may make better sense not to file a claim.  Some insurance companies may raise your policy rate based on claims history, which means a small claim may end up costing you more in the long run.

Rochester and Buffalo media continued coverage of the cleanup effort late Sunday and Monday.

Video reports are below the jump.

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The Day After: Dealing With the Aftermath of Tornadoes in Western New York

A small army of cleanup crews have descended on the Genesee County communities of Corfu and Darien and the western Monroe County village of Hilton to deal with the aftermath of two minor tornadoes that struck the area Saturday afternoon.

WIVB-TV Buffalo shows the destruction of a Genesee County greenhouse from a tornado that struck late Saturday afternoon in Corfu

Utility crews worked around the clock to restore services to those impacted by the weekend weather.  More than twenty utility poles were snapped or toppled by the twister, and new poles were set in preparation for rewiring over the weekend.  Arborists will face the most significant challenges — dealing with scores of uprooted and damaged trees in the immediate vicinity of the storm.  Winds up to 100 miles per hour cut a swath 3.5 miles long in southern Genesee County.  The Rochester suburb of Hilton got off much easier – a 3/4 mile long tornado hopped around the Hillside Drive neighborhood, causing significant damage to some property, but leaving nearby neighbors relatively unscathed.

Buffalo television stations stayed focused on the aftermath in Corfu and Darien, while Rochester television stations equally divided time between the impact closer to home in Hilton with the events in Genesee County.  A good deal of analysis of the storm’s impact on individual residents and the history of tornadoes in our area is covered in several reports archived here for your convenience.

The videos begin below the break.  Just click the …Continue Reading link below for access.

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Tornado Sighted In Hilton, New York – Suburban Rochester Also Gets Hit

In northwestern Monroe County, the village of Hilton was hit with the same storms that produced a tornado in Corfu and Darien in Genesee County.  The cluster of storms proved severe enough to spawn a smaller tornado here in Monroe County, and touched ground on Hillside Drive, a neighborhood in the southeastern Hilton.

The Hilton tornado was rated as only an EF0, the lowest rating for a tornado, and did limited property damage over a 3/4 mile stretch where the tornado likely reached the ground.

Rochester television stations covered the events from Hilton from two angles, covering the residents in the neighborhood itself as well as the tornado’s impact on the Hilton Carnival taking place nearby.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WROC Rochester – Tornado Unconfirmed in Hilton 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WROC-TV Rochester reports on what was then an unconfirmed tornado sighted in the village of Hilton.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WHEC Rochester – Hilton Carnival Shut Down With Tornado Arrival 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WHEC-TV Rochester reports from outside of the Hilton Carnival, shut down Saturday evening with the arrival of severe weather.

Tornadoes Strike Western New York – Corfu and Darien Suffer Significant Storm Damage

An extremely rare series of tornadoes struck western New York this weekend, causing significant damage from east of Buffalo to west of Rochester.  All of the confirmed tornadoes have been designated as F1 on the enhanced Fujita scale.

Storm Specifics
Location: Darien and Corfu, Genesee County, New York
Date: Saturday July 25, 2009
Time of Tornado: 4:50-5:00pm EDT
Fujita Scale Rating: EF1
Maximum Wind Speed: 100 miles per hour
Maximum Width of Tornado: 100 yards
Path Length of Tornado: 3.5 miles
Beginning Latitude/Longitude: 42.93N / 78.44W
Ending Latitude/Longitude: 42.96N / 78.39W

Genesee County, New York

Although widespread damage occurred to the southern portion of the village of Corfu, no injuries or fatalities occurred as a result of the storm.  Some 25-30 homes were damaged, one greenhouse and a barn were leveled, and at least 20 power poles were brought down by the storm.  Damage to trees was the most visible consequence of the storm — countless numbers in the immediate vicinity of the high winds from the storm were uprooted.  Debris flying through the air caused damage to a number of vehicles as well.

Tornadoes of any size are a rare event in western New York, although they are not unknown.  Most of those that do occur last only a few minutes and are not comparable to the devastating monster storms found in the midwest and southern portions of the United States.

The appearance of unusual weather events like tornadoes would be surprising had the entire summer season in western New York not already been one for the record books.  In addition to enormous, record-breaking downpours and other rain events, which have been occurring near-daily for more than eight weeks now, July 2009 is on tap to be the coldest month in the history of Rochester, since measurements began to be taken in the mid 1800′s.

In addition to rain in amount near triple the average, temperatures have been routinely cool throughout the entire summer season for many residents to not bother with air conditioning.  Daytime temperatures routinely hover in the low 70s, with nighttime lows in the low to mid-50′s.  That’s weather more common in southern Alberta than the humid temperate region of western New York, whose summers can resemble states far south of New York.

An extensive series of video news reports from television stations in Buffalo and Rochester are available to view below the page jump (simply click …Continue Reading to access the videos).

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Where Is Summer in Western New York?

Eight weeks of cool temperatures and near-daily rainfall have made western New York look and feel like it’s trapped in the month of September.  With temperatures rarely able to break 80, more cloudy days than sunny ones, and near daily rainfall, often reaching torrential levels, why is the northeast suffering from the non-summer of 2009?

R-News in Rochester investigated the reasons why few in Rochester have needed their air conditioning this “summer”:

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/R News Rochester – Where is Summer 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

Daytona Beach PBS Station Offers Station Members Free Digital Converter Box

WDSC-TV was dropped from Bright House Network's basic cable service, requiring customers to obtain a set top converter box.

Across the country, particularly where television markets are located close together, cable systems have often carried more than one PBS station on their channel lineup.  Public television stations are often established by more than one group in larger cities.  Some stations might be administered by a non-profit corporation established to run the station, others are often run by local or nearby universities.  Each PBS station gets to choose its own programming lineup, and many develop their own priorities.  Local university-run stations often focus on educational programming.  Independent non-profit corporations often run a varied entertainment and educational lineup.  In the very largest cities, some PBS stations focus on ethnic programming and locally produced shows.

Bright House Networks chose WMFE Orlando as their primary PBS station, leaving Channel 24 available to Orlando area basic cable customers.

In central Florida, the Daytona Beach-Orlando-Melbourne television market has two PBS affiliates.  WMFE, located in Orlando, is the dominant PBS station in the region, operating from Orange County, within Orlando.  WDSC, located near Daytona Beach in Volusia County, is easily seen by most people in the Orlando area, but is not usually considered the primary PBS station by those residents.  WDSC is run by Daytona State College.

Major cable operators nationwide negotiated an agreement with PBS over cable carriage of public broadcasters that got them a free pass to have to carry just one PBS station on their “basic cable” service, typically analog.  Most secondary PBS stations could still get carried on cable systems, but on their “digital programming tier.”  In greater Orlando, Bright House Networks, the dominant cable system, chose WMFE Channel 24 as their primary PBS station, and placed WDSC Channel 15 on their digital tier, requiring many viewers with older televisions to rent a digital set top converter box to continue to receive it.

In mid-June, when the nation transitioned to digital television, WDSC disappeared from the basic lineup.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal picked up the story when viewers noticed:

WDSC's coverage extends throughout central Florida

Cable customers who have analog televisions, get only basic cable and don’t spring for the extra $1 a month can’t get the local public television station. Officials weren’t sure how many were affected.

“You’re completely out of luck if you take the basic tier of cable service,” said David Byron, spokesman for Volusia County. “This is a big deal for us and it comes as a bit of a surprise.”

Both counties have agreements with the Daytona State College network to transmit emergency information in the event of a disaster such as a hurricane.

Daytona State College told Volusia officials Monday they received 250 calls on Friday and so many on answering machines over the weekend that the calls couldn’t be counted.

College and Bright House officials said callers are complaining they were not notified of the change before Friday’s national transmission switch and the need for the box.

It’s not fair for customers to have to pay $1 extra for emergency information, said Charlie Craig, emergency manager for Volusia County.

“It’s just one more hit” for people, Craig said, and it’s not likely that people on limited incomes will spend the extra money.

Bruce Dunn, WDSC manager, said the two stations are complementary in that WDSC shows 75 percent local programming and 25 percent national PBS programs while WMFE shows 100 percent national PBS programs.

“Bright House could add back the Dayton Beach-based station if it wanted,” Dunn said. “We are urging our customers to call Bright House. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.”

Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno plans to bring up the issue at the council meeting on Thursday and hopes to get a resolution encouraging the cable provider to change its mind.

“That’s a critical issue for Volusia County right now, especially in light of the hurricane season and everything,” Bruno said.

Bright House customers are lucky to be able to obtain a converter box for just $1 a month, much less than in many other areas.  But members of WDSC are even luckier.  Bright House Networks and WDSC this week announced it was giving away free digital converters to station members who have contributed at least $40 to WDSC in the past year, as long as they were also customers of Bright House Networks.

WDSC and Bright House Networks offer free

The station is also assisting viewers who have not purchased digital-ready HD televisions yet, with a special wholesale discount program offering station members extremely low pricing on digital-ready TVs.

Cable Overbuilder RCN Dumps Analog Cable – Going All Digital in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania

When cable systems run out of room to handle the increasing number of High Definition digital channels becoming available, it has two choices — upgrade the system to accommodate the growing number of networks or make room for them by getting rid of analog channels which occupy more space.  Upgrading can cost a cable system millions of dollars.  Switching to an all digital lineup can annoy subscribers, because they will require a digital ready set top cable box for every television set hooked up to cable.

Cable overbuilder RCN, which moves into existing cable television system territories and wires their own cable to compete, has chosen the latter, getting rid of its analog channel lineup of dozens of channels, to free up space.  Up to a half dozen standard definition digital channels can occupy the same space that just one analog channel can, which means switching to all digital delivery will give RCN plenty of room to grow in the future.

RCN will begin the transition to digital starting in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.  Allentown will be the first community to be switched to digital service, which the company claims will dramatically increase the number of standard and HD channels it can offer to customers.

“By going all-digital, RCN will be able to enhance the overall customer experience for our customers, increasing our HD channels at launch to more than triple the current offering — with most being able to receive 100 HD. This total will dramatically exceed what our cable competitors currently offer, making us leaders in delivering HD and customized cable packages in an all-digital world,” said RCN President of Residential Markets John Filipowicz. “This initiative, known as Project Analog Crush, frees up bandwidth so we can provide our Lehigh Valley customers with an explosion of entertainment choices and have more expanded Basic Digital TV channels than ever before. This additional bandwidth will also help with future broadband enhancements.”

At least 30 days prior to the conversion, subscribers will be notified by mail, with additional notifications arriving as the switchover date approaches. Beyond the traditional notifications mailed to customers, RCN will also provide information through billing inserts, information on its website, and local outreach meetings. RCN will also send “voice-casts” to its customers that consist of telephone announcements providing additional notifications to customers of the upcoming move to an all-digital platform.

RCN customers can obtain one converter box that works with non-HD channels for $3.95 per month, ($6.95 for each additional box) or an HD-compatible box for $9.95 per month, ($11.95 for each additional box.)  The converter box rental fee will likely be the most controversial aspect of the digital conversion, as subscribers will now require a set top box for every television hooked up to cable service.  Many customers currently rely on the analog lineup alone for additional television sets in the home so they don’t require multiple boxes.

After the conversion is complete, RCN will introduce an improved digital program guide, dramatically expand “on-demand” offerings, and launch several new channels for subscribers.  RCN will also introduce near a-la-carte cable lineups for customers who wish to customize their cable service to include only the types of channels they are interested in receiving, and paying for.

RCN also promises upgrades to its broadband service, which currently provides three tiers of service — 3Mbps/768kbps for $22.95 promotional rate ($53 after promotion), 10Mbps/800kbps for $32.95 promotional rate ($63 after promotion), or 20Mbps/2Mbps for $88 per month.

In Pennsylvania, RCN currently serves the following franchised communities of Alburtis, Allen Township, Allentown City, Bangor Borough, Bath Borough, Bethlehem City, Bethlehem Township, Bethlehem Township (Easton), Bushkill Township, Catasauqua Borough, Chapman Borough, Coopersburg, Coplay Borough, East Allen Township, East Bangor Borough, Easton City, Forks Township, Emmaus Borough, Fountain Hill Borough, Freemansburg Borough, Glendon Borough, Hanover Township (Lehigh County) & (Northampton County), Heidelberg Township, Hellertown Borough, Lehigh Township, Lower Macungie Township, Lower Nazareth Township, Lower Saucon Township, Lowhill Township, Macungie Borough, Moore Township, Nazareth Borough, North Catasauqua Borough, North Whitehall Township, Northampton Borough, Palmer Township, Pen Argyl Borough, Plainfield Township, Reiglesville, Roseto Borough, Salisbury Township, Slatington Borough, South Whitehall Township, Stockertown Borough, Tatamy Borough, Upper Macungie Township, Upper Nazareth Township, Upper Saucon Township, Walnutport, Washington Township, West Easton Borough, Whitehall Township, Williams Township, Wilson Borough, and Wind Gap Borough. RCN in Philadelphia serves the communities of Folcroft, Ridley Township, Sharon Hill, Eddystone, Norwood, Prospect Park, Collingdale, Colwyn, Glenolden, Ridley Park, Upper Darby, Tinicum, Morton, Rutledge, Millbourne, Darby Borough, Darby Township, Clifton Heights, East Lansdowne, Yeadon, and Lansdowne.

City of Binghamton Wants A Bigger Piece of the Action from Time Warner Cable

Binghamton, New York

The city of Binghamton, in southern New York, is asking for an increase in its franchise fee from Time Warner Cable.  Franchise fees are paid by cable operators to the communities they serve in return for the right to wire those communities for cable.  The city is seeking a percentage increase in their franchise fee, from 3% of cable revenues to 5%.

Cable operators routinely break these fees out on customer’s cable bills, recovering the fees from consumers.  Any franchise fee increase will likely be passed along to customers dollar for dollar, something that concerns hard-pressed New Yorkers, already paying the nation’s highest taxes and fees, and facing even more as the state government attempts to cope with a budget shortfall.

WICZ in Binghamton has the story.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WICZ Binghamton City Wants Increase in Franchise Fee 7-21-2009.FLV[/flv]

Time Warner Cable Scrambles Channel Positions in NYC: Big $ = Low Channel Numbers?

Residents in New York City who subscribe to Time Warner Cable will discover a whole lot of moving going on this summer.  That’s because cable networks might be paying, or making other “considerations” for the New York cable company in return for more favorable channel positions — the lower the channel number the better.

Cable operators have long recognized that the lower a channel number assigned to a network, the higher its ratings.  Subscribers scanning the dial for something to watch typically start at the lowest channel number, and scan their way up the dial.  Most usually find something to watch long before they reach the highest channel numbers.  Networks recognize this as well, and many complain loudly about their channel positions on cable systems.  Some even contractually limit where a cable system can place their network.

Anything above channel 50 starts to get into Channel Siberia — the vast empty space where networks are lost to viewers who never seem to find them.  Being thrown onto a channel number in the hundreds, or worse, the thousands, can be a disaster for viewership.

The winners of the channel position battle loudly proclaim victory when they pull off a favorable channel change.  NBC Universal did just that in celebrating Oxygen moving from channel 61, where the snow is falling, to a nice and comfortable channel 12.  Mun2, a Latino network, has been in the deep freeze on channel 126, but will drop to channel 42.  These channel changes take place on August 19th.

“The new Oxygen and mun2 channel positions are extremely favorable and will greatly contribute to the networks’ success as they continue to grow in both ratings and distribution,” Mary Murano, executive vice president of TV Networks Distribution at NBC Universal, said in the release. “We believe Time Warner Cable customers — our viewers — will appreciate the easy access to Oxygen and mun2′s buzz worthy programming.”

But that’s not all.  Several other networks are moving around the dial, potentially confusing subscribers looking for them after the channel change.  Although Time Warner Cable doesn’t admit dollars changing hands are behind the changes, it seems likely “considerations” are involved in channel changes which routinely irritate subscribers.

Here is a roundup of what’s moving where in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens:

BET: Moving from channel 42 to channel 37

Cartoon Network: Moves from channel 22 to channel 61

Cartoon Network HD: Moves from channel 722 to channel 761

CNN: Moves from channel 10 to channel 78

CNN HD: Moves from channel 710 to channel 778

Discovery Kids: Moves from channel 110 to channel 22

FX: Moves from channel 37 to channel 10

FXHD: Moves from channel 737 to channel 710

Golf HD: Moves from channel 779 to channel 482

ID: Investigation Discovery: Moves from 113 to channel 23

Lifetime: Moves from channel 12 to channel 62

Lifetime Movie Network: Moves from channel 62 to channel 80

Lifetime Movie Network HD: Moves from channel 762 to channel 780

Mun2: Moves from channel 126 to channel 42

NHL Network HD: Moves from channel 795 to channel 468

Oxygen: Moves from channel 61 to channel 12

Smithsonian HD: Moves from channel 789 to channel 795

TruTV: Moves from channel 23 to channel 79

VS HD: Moves from channel 794 to channel 481

The following new channels are also slated to launch on Time Warner Cable’s NYC systems August 19th:

Big Ten HD On Demand on channel 471

Headline News HD on channel 758

ID: Investigation Discovery HD on channel 723

Lifetime HD on channel 762

Outdoor Channel HD on channel 480

PBS Create on channel 169

PBS World on channel 164

Smithsonian HD On Demand on channel 794

TCM HD on channel 782