Episode
The Great Hackensack–New York City Tornado Disaster of 1895
- Podcast
- Meteorology Matters
- Published
- Jul 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2339
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://rss.com/podcasts/meteorology-matters/2987819
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/meteorology-matters-7035992/episodes/the-great-hackensack-new-york-city-tornado-disaster-of-1895/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/meteorology-matters-7035992/the-great-hackensack-new-york-city-tornado-disaster-of-1895.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
In July 1895, one of the most remarkable and least remembered tornado disasters in the history of the New York metropolitan area struck without warning. Historic Cherry Hill near modern day Hackensack and River Edge, New Jersey, was devastated as homes, businesses, farms, churches, and the railroad community were torn apart. The same day, another destructive tornado ripped through Woodhaven in what is now Queens, New York City. In this episode of Meteorology Matters , meteorologist Rob Jones reconstructs the disaster property by property, following the storm’s path through Cherry Hill while telling the stories of the people who lived through it. Along the way, we examine the deaths, rescues, destruction, and recovery, while exploring one of the biggest unanswered questions in American weather history: Was this one extraordinary tornado that crossed from New Jersey into New York City, or two separate tornadoes produced by the same storm system? Join us as we revisit one of the forgotten weather disasters that helped shape the history of the New York region.