(WSYR-TV, Syracuse) A jet stream disturbance sliding by to our south Friday, worked on a warm and humid airmass that was over us, to bubble up a few isolated thunderstorms. I believe another thing aiding in the development of these storms was differential heating. The clouds were thicker across the southern half of New York State, versus sunshine across the northern half. The temperature difference between the cloudy and sunny areas acted as a focus for the storms to develop.
Dewpoints had risen well into the 60s so there was plenty of atmospheric moisture for the storms to work with. The storms became loaded with rain, and when that load of water rushed down toward the earth, there were a couple of reports of wind damage as the momentum of the falling rain created localized gusts of wind.
Again, all this happened in a fairly localized area in eastern Onondaga and Madison counties. The radar image shows the estimated rainfall across central New York. This will give you an idea of what some people faced (or didn't) Friday afternoon.
