Post Severe Weather Coordination Message #1 – Monday July 28th 2014 Severe Weather/Flash Flood Event and Recap of Sunday 7/27/14 Severe Weather

July 29, 2014 Rob Macedo Leave a comment

Hello to all..

..EF-2 Tornado occurs in Revere, Massachusetts causing significant damage in the center of town. Other pockets of straight-line wind damage and flash flooding occur in other parts of Southern New England on Monday rounding out a busy two day stretch of severe weather in the region..
..Additional damage and flood reports and photos can be sent as a reply to this message or to pics@nsradio.org and credit will be given to the spotter for use of the pictures/reports..
..Quiet weather expected for the next few days..

A supercell storm organized over Northern Norfolk County Massachusetts and raced through portions of Northeast Massachusetts Monday Morning. The storm caused wind damage in parts of Needham, Massachusetts. KB1TJI-Jeff Marden checked out damage in the Moseley Avenue area of Needham Massachusetts. This storm would continue to organize briefly obtaining a tornadic signature in the eastern end of Chelsea and in particular Revere, Massachusetts. The storm was tracked using the SKYWARN self-activation protocol. Within 15-20 minutes of the storm passage, the Amateur Radio SKYWARN Network detected reports of many trees an wires down and structural damage in Revere. Shortly afterwards, Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters, KB1KQW-Jim Palmer and KB1NCG-Marek Kozubal working with NWS Taunton Warning Coordination Meteorologist, Glenn Field-KB1GHX, arrived in Revere and with support of Revere Police and Fire and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the survey was conducted resulting in many of the pictures seen on the WX1BOX Facebook Page.

WX1BOX Amateur Radio Operations were activated within an hour of the start of the survey and coordination was done with the survey team via Amateur Radio. In addition to this effort, N1EVH-Mike Nasleroad was able to get into the area providing additional pictures, reports and data from Revere and also checked out confirmed damage reports in Lynn which were less significant and seemed more like straightline wind at that point in time. Also, SKYWARN Spotter Nick Mollo, who was a friend in Revere, provided additional pictures. The Topsfield DPW, a follower on the WX1BOX Twitter Account, provided pictures and damage reports from the Topsfield area augmented with additional pictures from KC1AEI-Matt Knowles from North Shore SKYWARN.

While this tornado occurred, significant flash flooding affected the Boston Metro West Region Monday Morning. A number of pictures were provided of the flash flooding. Rainfall of 2.5-3.5″ in less than an hour caused this significant flash flooding in the Metro West region.

As we got into Monday Afternoon and Evening, another round of severe weather occurred affecting Northwest and North-Central Massachusetts through Southern New Hampshire with additional severe thunderstorms across North-Central Connecticut. These severe thunderstorms caused pockets of flash flooding and straight-line wind damage. Particularly hard hit were parts of Westford, Littleton and South Chelmsford as well as parts of Enfield and Somers, Connecticut. A Tornado Warning was issued for parts of Eastern Hampden and Southwest Worcester County Massachusetts but only pockets of straightline wind damage were noted. WX1BOX Amateur Radio Operations were active during this timeframe. Pictures of flash flooding and damage from the region can be seen via the following links:

WX1BOX EF1/EF2 Revere Tornado Facebook Photo Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.819777764722910.1073741841.216287391738620&type=1

WX1BOX Needham MA Severe Thunderstorm Damage Photo Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.819965604704126.1073741842.216287391738620&type=1

WX1BOX Metro West MA Flash Flood Photo Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.820001504700536.1073741843.216287391738620&type=1

WX1BOX Topsfield MA Severe Thunderstorm Damage Photo Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.820014011365952.1073741844.216287391738620&type=1

The NWS Taunton Local Storm Report on Monday’s Severe Weather Event and the Public Information Statement on the EF1/EF2 Revere Massachusetts Tornado can be seen via the following links:

NWS Taunton Local Storm Report – Monday July 28th 2014:
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KBOX/1407290936.nwus51.html

NWS Taunton Public Information Statement – Revere Massachusetts Tornado – Monday July 28th 2014:
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KBOX/1407282110.nous41.html

The events on Monday were after an 8 hour severe weather episode in parts of Western and Central New England on Sunday. On Sunday, a warm front made its way through Southern New England Sunday Morning into early afternoon bringing with it strong to isolated severe thunderstorms. This included a funnel cloud and minor wind damage in Springfield, MA with flooding reports and house fires from lightning in Central Massachusetts. After the warm front passed, sufficient clearing and destabilization with an impulse moving through the area resulted in another round of scattered severe thunderstorms impacting portions of Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut between 430 and 800 PM. SKYWARN Self-Activation handled the storm activity today across the region. Hardest hit areas were in the second round of storms over West Springfield, Agawam, Longmeadow and then extending into Enfield, Somers and Tolland Connecticut with pockets of wind damage reaching the Storrs/Mansfield, CT area. Any additional damage reports or pictures can be shared as a reply to this email or to pics@nsradio.org with credit given to the spotter for the photos posted. Below is the NWS Taunton Local Storm Report and WX1BOX Facebook Page of pictures collected so far:

NWS Taunton Local Storm Report – Sunday July 27th, 2014:
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KBOX/1407280131.nwus51.html

WX1BOX Facebook Page Photo Album – Sunday July 27th 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.819321338101886.1073741840.216287391738620&type=1

We wish to thank all Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters, local Police and Fire departments and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for their help and support during this active 2 days of severe weather in our region. All of us working together makes a significant difference for our local communities by providing accurate ground truth information for better warnings and forecasts and to tell the public what is actually happening on the ground.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant 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
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