Searching for TWC footage from the Summer of 1989

[Ice Man]

At least, I think that's when it was. From all the checking I've done, it seems to point to that.

In (what I believe was) that year, there was an incredible severe thunderstorm that rolled through the tri-state area overnight. Cloud to ground lightning every couple of seconds, power across the county was knocked out, high winds, rain, you get the idea. Major thunderstorm storm the likes I have never seen in my hometown before or since.

This storm event was what got me really interested in weather, and also got me into watching TWC. The next day following this storm, it turned out that it had gotten TWC's attention as well. The storm had moved on into NYC, and they had about 45 seconds of lightning footage from it, which they were running every hour.

Does this sound at all familiar to anyone, and if so, any chance someone has a recording of it?

[twcclassics]

I might have something. Do you remember the date (or at the very least the month)?

[Ice Man]

Pretty certain it was June or July, (based on my earliest tapings of TWC that were jumpstarted by this). Sorry I don't have more to go on than that. When I get a chance, I'll have to make some phone calls and see if I can narrow this down further. There are many many MANY reports of heavy rainfall in NYC from that Summer.

[twcclassics]

If you could get an exact date, that would help. I browsed through my footage from that summer, and I didn't see any reports about NYC. The closest thing I suppose was a TWC and several local reports of a tornado that hit near Philadelphia in early June.

[Ice Man]

Alrighty, well my calls were never returned and all my searches came up dry. The more I look though, the more I'm convinced the I at least know the right week. Trouble is, that week was INSANE. Severe storms were being fired at the Northeast as if from a tommy gun.

The month was July, and my best guess was the 8th, based on the earliest TWC recordings I could find.

First I found this recording of an old weather broadcast, which features a strong front that passed through the area on the night of the 5th and dumped record rainfall.

! No longer available

And now I found amateur footage of a thunderstorm that hit NYC on the night of the 7th.

! No longer available

And finally, in the comments beneath that footage, a Northeast tornado outbreak on the 10th is mentioned that also caused some ruckus in the Manhattan area (though that date comes later than my oldest recording).

That's the best I've got. Looking at observations from those dates can't clarify this any further since nobody ever bothered to take note of lightning intensity.