Post Severe Weather Coordination Message #2 – Saturday 11/13/21 Severe Weather Outbreak

Hello to all…

..Rare November Severe Weather Outbreak hits Southern New England. 3 Tornadoes affected the NWS Boston/Norton Coverage Area in Connecticut and Rhode Island. It is also worth noting that in NWS Brookhaven New York’s coverage area, 8 tornadoes occurred, 6 in New York and 2 in Connecticut and brings the total tornadoes for Saturday November 13th to 11 tornadoes across Southern New York and Southern New England..
..A hearty thank you to all Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN spotters who provided robust support on post storm damage and hail reports, pictures and videos. If there are any further post Storm damage and hail reports, pictures, videos, including approximate time of damage or hail, town and street location, they can be sent to our WX1BOX Facebook and Twitter feeds or the email address pics@nsradio.org..

A rare November severe weather outbreak which included tornadoes impacted Southern New England on Saturday November 13th, 2021. To put this event in context, the event is rare but not totally unprecedented. Here are some facts and figures to put this event in perspective as provided by NWS Boston/Norton:

Since 1950, there have been no tornadoes ever recorded in the month of November in Connecticut and Rhode Island until November 13th, 2021. In the state of Massachusetts, tornadoes were recorded in November and December on the following dates:

November 21, 1956 in Worcester Co, Essex Co, and Norfolk Co;
November 18, 1967 in Plymouth Co;
November 7, 1971 in Worcester Co and Middlesex Co;

Other notable out of season tornadoes also include:
December 18, 1951 on Marthas Vineyard
December 18, 1956 in Essex Co (near Middleton)

Also noteworthy is the Goshen and South Ashfield tornadoes on February 25, 2017 which were the first ever recorded tornadoes in Massachusetts in the month of February.

This event was caused by a strong cold front and low pressure system that had very cold mid-level temperatures along with strong winds aloft that compensated for an environment that was not particularly stable across the entire atmosphere due to lower dewpoints and temperatures that were in the upper 40s and 50s. This set the stage for strong to severe thunderstorms that produced, damaging winds, hail and several tornadoes. A reasonable example of an event that was similar in more recent times is the October 23rd, 2018 severe weather outbreak where 4 tornadoes occurred in the NWS Boston/Norton coverage area with many hail reports and some straightline wind damage reports. This was also a rare event but not unprecedented.

The tornadoes in many cases were on the ground briefly and they were EF0 to EF1 tornadoes that occurred in the region. There were also pockets of straightline wind damage and stronger wind gusts in several areas with a 69 MPH measured wind gust at the Chappy Ferry Point in Edgartown, MA, 59 MPH at Fairhaven – West Island, 55 MPH at TF Green State Airport in Warwick, RI, 54 MPH at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT and 51 MPH Gust at Brainard Airport in Hartford, CT.

In our coverage area, there were preliminary Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN reports of storm damage under every tornado path along with general pockets of wind damage in severe thunderstorms also reported SKYWARN. These reports along with the later storm photos and videos helped to provide ground truth during the event and support to allow for rapid storm surveying of the area to show the three tornado paths that occurred. We are very grateful for all the help and support of our community of spotters for their support during this severe weather outbreak.

We may post one more post severe weather coordination message with any final updates and information. Below is the NWS Boston/Norton Local Storm Report, Public Information Statement on the damage surveys, a NWS summary graphic on the Tornadoes in New York and New England, an updated raw Amateur Radio Log of storm damage reports and hail reports and the WX1BOX Facebook Photo Album of storm damage from this event:

NWS Boston/Norton Local Storm Report:
https://wx1box.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/LSR_11_13_21.pdf

NWS Boston/Norton Public Information Statement – Storm Surveys of Tornadoes:
https://wx1box.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PNS_11_13_21_NWS_Norton_Tornado_Surveys.pdf

NWS Brookhaven NY Public Information Statement – Storm Survey of Tornadoes:
https://wx1box.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PNS_11_13_21_NWS_Brookhaven_Tornado_Surveys.pdf

NWS Tornado Graphic Summary of 11/13/21 Severe Weather Outbreak:
https://wx1box.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NWS_Tornado_11_13_21_graphic.jpg

NWS Boston/Norton Amateur Radio Storm Log – Revision 2:
https://wx1box.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/reports_11_13_21_rev_2.pdf

WX1BOX Facebook Photo Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=wx1box&set=a.5003397166360928

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
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