It formed in the early morning hours of August 8, 2007, skipping along an approximately 9 miles (14 km)-long path, from Staten Island across The Narrows to Brooklyn.

[5] The typical summer storm system that spawned the tornado gathered strength over Pennsylvania, caused heavy rain over New Jersey and continued its eastward movement, reaching New York City at sunrise.

The circulation intensified, and headed east across The Narrows tidal strait, just north of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and the tornado re-developed and touched down again in Brooklyn, at Bay Ridge at 6:32 am EDT.

The storm continued to move east-northeast into Leif Ericson Park Square, where severe damage to trees occurred, and where winds blew out a 15-foot-tall (4.6 m) stained glass window valued at $300,000 at the nearby Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church.

The tornado then headed east and touched down again in Kensington and the Flatbush neighborhood of Prospect Park South at approximately 6:40 am EDT.

The teaser on the front page depicted Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz proclaiming “This ain't Kansas”.

"[9] The New York Sun read: “It’s Frustrating, It’s Insanity” with a subhead “Anger Erupts At Subway; Tornado Hits”.

The press coverage also examined the link between the storm and global warming, given the tornado's historic nature, and the other recent subway service interruptions caused by torrential rain on July 18 and the previous winter.

"We may be dealing with meteorological conditions that are unprecedented," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director Elliot G. Sander in the immediate aftermath, and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer said the day after, "This is supposed to be a rainfall event that is a once-in-a-decade occurrence – we've had three in the past seven months."