Tornadoes in MA

[ChrisPC]

Apparently, downtown Springfield, MA was hit by a tornado today, and another TOR warning has been issued for Springfield just now!

http://twitpic.com/55m1ji

http://instagr.am/p/FC0F9/

[ChrisPC]

1 confirmed fatality from a fallen tree, and more TOR warnings popping up. TWC had some amazing footage; it just missed their local affiliate!  

Local video coverage here:

http://www.necn.com/pages/necn_streampage

It's odd to hear wall-to-wall tornado coverage with a Yankee accent...

[Thundersnow]

This is pretty amazing video of the tornado crossing a river.  Notice how it picks up the water. 

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2011/06/01/vo.springfield.mass.tornado.cnn

[CT_Yankee]

This is just amazing.   Those tornadoes resulted in some of the most intense tornado footage out there, and these are my old stomping grounds (I was actually born in Springfield and grew up just over the CT border).  

In fact, I was just up there visiting family until a day before, and the local mets were saying the storms could "pack a punch"   I told my family that they were in a 30% probability in the day 2 SPC outlook....  Blank stares.    

A friend of mine's dad was caught in his vehicle while the outer fringe of the tornado passed over him.  Cars were rolled over just yards away and his truck was moved with him in it..... luckily he's ok.  My brother lives in Westfield, Ma, where it touched down.

I'm convinced Connecticut gets spared whenever there is a direct South wind coming off the cool water.  If the winds were from the SW it would be a different story.  It's something that I always paid attention to but for some reason the mets always seemed to forget to factor into their forecasts.

The area does get a strong tornado once in a while, but it's just really insane for me to see that happen where it happened, when it happened.

I suggest looking at some of the footage on YouTube for those who haven't already.  Absolutely crazy tornado footage by any standards.

[Thundersnow]

Amazing how such spectacular footage is caught outside of the usual "Alley" regions.

[CT_Yankee]

Amazing how such spectacular footage is caught outside of the usual "Alley" regions.

Yep.  Seems we're seeing more and more "close encounter" footage such as this from populated areas, now that so many people have Androids and iPhones ready to roll.  This is the type of footage that most chasers don't even get close enough to get!

[Dave R]

Interesting:

Surprisingly, Massachusetts (and Connecticut) average(s) just as many strong to violent tornadoes per 10,000 square miles as Texas, Missouri and Tennessee.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/springfield-tornado-not-unprecedented-in-massachusetts/2011/06/02/AGMp1FHH_blog.html

[harlequin]

Pretty spectacular footage when the tornado went over the river.

Damage reports seem to indicate EF1/EF2 damage...

[Kevin]

Pretty spectacular footage when the tornado went over the river.

Damage reports seem to indicate EF1/EF2 damage...

The damage in Springfield looks EF1 to low-end EF2 to me...but farther East towards Munson and Southbridge...that looks like possibly solid EF3...maybe even high-end EF3...just depending on the structural integrity of some of the structures which were essentially leveled. We'll see what the survey teams end up finding that are actually on-scene there to investigate.

[harlequin]

Ah, I haven't seen photos from those towns. But I did read some descriptions earlier which "sound" like EF3 damage. Sad to hear this caused 3 fatalities. The hits just keep on coming. MA's last F4 was in 1995 and their last F3 was in 1981.

[CT_Yankee]

NWS Taunton, Ma. observation from Westfield around the time of the first touchdown.

01   16:53   SE 5   6.00    Funnel Cloud Haze   FEW030 BKN050 BKN065   78   73         29.83   1010.0   0.24   0.24   

[Thundersnow]

NWS Taunton, Ma. observation from Westfield around the time of the first touchdown.

"Funnel cloud" was actually showing up in that station's current conditions at the time?  Interesting...

[Kevin]

 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS IS STILL IN   
THE PROCESS OF CONDUCTING A STORM SURVEY.  HOWEVER AT THIS TIME WE   
ARE ABLE TO CONFIRM SOME INFORMATION REGARDING THE TORNADO THAT   
PASSED FROM WESTFIELD THROUGH SPRINGFIELD AND EASTWARD TO MONSON AND   
BEYOND.   
 
SOME OF THE HARDEST HIT AREAS WILL BE CLASSIFIED WITH A RATING OF   
EF-3 OR HIGHER ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA DAMAGE CLASSIFICATION SCALE. 
 
WE ARE HOPING TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE MORE COMPLETE INFORMATION ON   
PATH LENGTH...PATH WIDTH...TIMING...AND EF SCALE RANKINGS...LATE   
THIS EVENING. 
 

[CT_Yankee]

"Funnel cloud" was actually showing up in that station's current conditions at the time?  Interesting...

Yes!    http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KBAF.html


I also noticed "Tornado" showed up as the current conditions for NWS in Tuscaloosa (which is actually a valid daily occurrence observation ("X"). 

I'm guessing the offices must go in and edit as I can't see how that could be recorded.  This leads me to wonder how thunder is measured.

[Kevin]

The ASOS (most...at least) do have equipment that can automatically detect lightning and its distance from the site...its frequency and type. That's when you'll see something like... "FRQ LTG ICCG NE-E" in the remarks section of an observation...which would indicate Frequent Lightning...In-Cloud and Cloud-to-Ground...from Northeast to East of the observation point.

Some...but not all ASOS sites have a human observer on-site that can augment the data if necessary. This is mostly at larger airports...and are contract employees from the FAA that do have extensive observation training. Most times...its not needed...but sometimes especially during an active situation extra remarks can be added about certain cloud types or data can be corrected if there is a malfunction somewhere in the automated sensors...etc. They also are the ones that report snowfall amount and depth at ASOS sites...which we've discussed before as being a point of inconsistency at times during the winter.

A contract observer on-site can also report a Funnel Cloud (FC) or Tornado (+FC) within an observation. The automated equipment can NOT detect this...this is something that must be augmented into an ob by the observer...so you would only ever see them at ASOS sites that have an observer there. KBAF does have an observer...and the observer there witnessed a funnel cloud that developed and lasted for one minute.

Here is the raw METAR...
KBAF 012024Z 30005KT 1 1/4SM R20/4500VP6000FT FC +TSRA BKN024 BKN030 OVC065 26/22 A2984 RMK FUNNEL CLOUD B23 E24 AO2 LTG DSNT NW-E TSB1958RAB00 P0023

Notice the "FC" in the observation. Then...in the Remarks section...the observer added additional details...indicating the funnel cloud began at "B23" (:23 after the hour) and ended at "E24" (:24 after the hour). That is followed by the Lightning Detection information (which again is automated) indicating lightning was distant in the horizon from the NW to the E.

If you ever look at a raw METAR...if it says "AUTO" at the beginning of the report...it means its a completely automated sensor with no observer on-site and thus human input (at least at that report time...some sites don't keep an observer on-site 24/7/365). If it doesn't...then an observer was present and may have augmented data to the original report. ALL funnel clouds and tornadoes that would be observed would have to fall under that category.