Above: Graphic showing a tornado watch stretching across several mid-Atlantic and New England states on Monday, October 7, issued by the National Weather Service in Albany.
A tornado watch is in effect for a large area of upstate New York, including the five counties of the Catskills region: Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster.
The watch, issued by the National Weather Service at 9am, is in effect until 5pm and covers a 42-county area in New York State.
An intense cold front is moving eastward through the area, bringing storms, strong gusty winds and heavy rains. The front is expected to reach the western Catskills by early afternoon. The storms have the potential to bring down trees and cause power outages, even if they do not develop into a tornado.
National Weather Service employees are federal workers, and are not being paid while the government shutdown -- currently entering its seventh day -- is in effect. They are considered essential employees, and are required to work. A weather alert issued last week by the National Weather Service office in Anchorage contained a coded message, "PLEASE PAY US," read by stringing together the first letters on each line.
A few good local weather-related Facebook pages to keep an eye on as the storms pass through the region: Hudson Valley Weather, the National Weather Service in Binghamton, and the National Weather Service in Albany.
Update, 1:20pm: Much of Central New York was cleared from the tornado watch in the early afternoon, according to an update from the National Weather Service in Binghamton. (Note: The graphic in the linked update only covers the Binghamton office's territory, which does not inclue the eastern Catskills and Hudson Valley.) The tornado watch remains in effect across the Catskills region.
Many local school districts have cancelled after-school programming. We are keeping track of local cancellations on our Facebook page.
