6/1/19: TODAY MARKS THE 8TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEADLY SPRINGFIELD TORNADO WHICH RIPPED THROUGH HAMPDEN COUNTY OF WMASS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON… PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY BELOW, I READ EVERY ONE OF THEM… ALSO, SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TOMORROW WITH DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS POSSIBLE, SO LET’S MEET HERE AGAIN TOMORROW MORNING AND ALL THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED… (2:50pm Saturday, 6/1/19)
Good afternoon everybody, 8 years ago to the minute a strong thunderstorm formed as it entered the Pioneer Valley in western Hampden County. This storm would go on to form one of the strongest tornadoes to touch down in Massachusetts in the past 70 years of record keeping of severe weather events.
Wind speeds of up to 160mph were produced, and the storm grew to over 2500 feet in width over the Brimfield State Forest in eastern Hampden County.
Below I have included section on the storm setup and what happened meteorologically that day, a link to the NWS Tornado Safety Page (be sure to click each of the 5 tabs with info, located below the photo of a tornado), links to the Wikipedia article with more info, and lots of YouTube links that I compiled that show the tornado from Westfield to Southbridge, a radar loop showing the classic hook echo forming to the southwest of the t-storm indicating a tornado, WWLP’s coverage as it came over the CT River right before their eyes, and some other crazy facts about the historic storm, which eventually dissipated in southwest Charlton, MA.
STORM SETUP / NERD ALERT
The storm formed from a confluence of atmospheric features including a very strong cold front advancing east into WMass, a strong upper level jet stream aiding in strong forcing (i.e. a feature that forces air to rise), very strong wind shear (i.e. winds of differing speeds and/or directions with elevation), and a very high amount of instability at the surface.
The icing on this horrible cake was what is called an EML, or an Elevated Mixed Layer. This is a dry, warm, well-mixed thickness of air in the mid levels aloft that emanated from the desert southwest. Above such layers are typically VERY steep lapse rates (i.e. a dramatic drop in temperature from the top of the EML to the Tropopause, which is the very top of where our weather occurs on Planet Earth).
Once the supercell responsible for the tornado hit that layer, it took off a like a rocket, and produced multiple severe thunderstorms that day, including the one that dropped the Springfield Tornado.
ANOTHER TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN WMASS
However, little talked about was another separate EF-1 tornado that moved through beteen 6-7pm that caused damage in northwest Wilbraham, northern Brimfield, and Fiskdale, MA (a part of Sturbridge).
3 people lost their lives, over 200 people were injured and hundreds were left homeless, with hundreds of buildings destroyed or heavily damaged.
The only storm that measures up to this one was the F4 that tracked from Petersham to Worcester, MA in 1953 – a 48-mile long track!
I am working hard to increase my knowledge and detection skills for both tornadoes and microbursts, to get the best information out to you as soon as possible should severe weather like this hit again.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: TORNADO SAFETY
WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE OF SPRINGFIELD TORNADO
CLIPS FROM WESTFIELD TO SOUTHBRIDGE
(Some language in here, understandably so)
WESTFIELD
MEMORIAL BRIDGE INTO SPRINGFIELD
BRIMFIELD (LISTEN TO THE SOUND)
SOUTHBRIDGE (LISTEN TO SOUND AT 0:45 SECS)
RADAR LOOP OF TORNADO OUTBREAK
WWLP TORNADO COVERAGE AS STORM MOVES OVER THE CT RIVER
CRAZY FACTS
The thunderstorm responsible for this long-track, 39-mile long tornado started at 4:13pm… in the 413.
In Natick, roughly 60 mi (97 km) from Monson, a picture from the town was found.
Some debris from Cathedral High School in Springfield was found roughly 43 mi (69 km) east, discovered in Millbury, MA and southeast Worcester County.
SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE TOMORROW
The potential for severe weather exists tomorrow, and while an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out, I think straight line winds are the more likely weather hazard, along with hail, heavy rain and frequent lightning. The general window for severe weather from west to east is 2-7pm.
Please share your story of the Springfield Tornado below (I put mine in the comments), and I will update you tomorrow morning about tomorrow afternoon’s severe weather potential. Thank you as always for reading and for your support…
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HAPPY FIRST DAY OF METEOROLOGICAL SUMMAH! A NICE DAY TODAY FOLLOWED BY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TOMORROW AFTERNOON, SOME COULD BE STRONG… DESPITE A FEW SHOWERS POSSIBLE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, WE SHOULD SEE SOME SUNSHINE EVERY DAY THIS UPCOMING WEEK… (6:00am Sat)
Good morning everybody, I’m still getting bugged by this bug going around, but generally fine. However, this will be a brief post as I head back to bed for rest, beauty sleep, and sheep counting.
SUMMARY
–A ribbon of higher pressure (as seen on attached water vapor loop) is our friend
–The blues whites and greens in that image show increasing moisture, but we’re sandwiched between that dry tongue of air.
–Mmmmmm…. sandwiches….
–Today will be mostly sunny until about mid to late afternoon with warm temps, and highs in the mid 70s to low 80s
–Clouds increase before sunset, and a few showers are possible either side of midnight, and we can’t rule out a thunderstorm over the Berkshires
–Lows will be in the upper 50s
–For Sunday, after some morning patchy fog, we should see a mostly cloudy day as a cold front sweeps west to east out ahead of a digging upper level trough in southeast Canada
–While we should be dry in the morning into early afternoon, showers and thunderstorms will be possible thereafter, with the best chance for strong storms between 4-7pm
–The attached dewpoint temps map shows dews rising into the low to mid 60s.
–If we get enough sunshine/clearning in here Sunday afternoon before the line arrives, we could see some strong to possibly severe storms develop. I will update you tomorrow, of course
–Highs will reach the low to upper 70s, and some storms could produce isolated damaging straight line wind gusts and hail
–Lows drop into the upper 40s behind the front, and showers/storms will dissipate by midnight
–Monday and Tuesday will feature cooler temps as a winter-type trough swings through
–After a morning shower, we should be partly sunny Monday with highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s and lows in the low to mid 40s, chilly!
–Tuesday looks mostly sunny with highs in the mid to upper 60s, with lows in the mid to upper 40s
–More scattered showers are possible by mid week, but doesn’t look like much to get hung about (Strawberry Fields For-Evah)
Ok, that about does it. As many of you know, today is the 8th anniversary of the deadly Springfield Tornado and I hope to post a piece about it later today.
Thankfully, today will be calm and quite pleasant.
Have a great day!