The National Weather Service (NWS) sent out a tornado warning Tuesday afternoon for Manhattan and The Bronx in New York City, but it was later downgraded to a severe thunderstorm warning.
Strong winds and heavy rains swept through the area. It’s not clear if a tornado actually touched down in the city.
“Immediately take shelter on lower floors. Stay away from windows,” read a warning from New York City’s Emergency Management alert system.
OKX issues Tornado Warning for Bronx, Nassau, New York (Manhattan), Westchester [NY] till 3:00 PM EDT https://t.co/72rRBJPyVx
— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) April 21, 2020
.@NWSNewYorkNY Tornado Warning issued for Manhattan, The Bronx: 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM on 4/21. Immediately take shelter on lower floors. Stay away from windows. https://t.co/t918yhlx8z. Multilingual and ASL Link: https://t.co/blJLuS6ozW.
— NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) April 21, 2020
The warning also covered Nassau and Westchester counties, and it was in effect from 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET
A severe thunderstorm warning remained in effect until 3:45 p.m. for Brooklyn and Queens.
New York City is currently the U.S. COVID-19 epicenter.