July 23rd, 2002 Severe Weather Outbreak Report
Severe
Weather Outbreak Report for July 23rd, 2002
by:
Robert Macedo, KD1CY, ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton
The
largest Severe Weather Outbreak of the 2002 season occurred on
Tuesday
July 23rd, 2002 as a traditional New England Squall Line
went
through a large part of Southern New England From Eastern
Massachusetts
through Southern New Hampshire, west through the
Berkshires
and south into Northern Connecticut and Northern Rhode
Island.
SKYWARN
was activated with Ops at NWS Taunton at 1 PM with Carl, N1FY,
and I
as the operators for the event. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch
was
posted for the region until 7 PM. The IRLP link from the 147.105
Wilbraham
Repeater to the 448.175 Framingham Repeater was activated
with
Ray Weber, KA1JJM, Jim Bernotas, N1VMH, and Eric Tuller, N1QKO
active
on the frequency. The squall line took shape across Southern
Vermont,
Western Massachusetts and Southeast New York and took aim
on
Southern New England.
Activity
began in Berkshire County with Dime Sized Hail reported in
on the
Monterey-Great Barrington Mass. line at 2:10 PM. Activity
also
surged into Cheshire County New Hampshire with, WA1YZN, Bruce
Bohannon
active on the 146.805-Keene, NH Repeater. Activity across
Southern
New Hampshire was intense and at 2:20 PM, trees and wires
were
blown down in Keene, NH and at 2:31 PM trees were blown down
on
wires in Harrisville, NH at 2:31 PM with 1-2" branches blown down
on Old
Dublin Road in Peterborough, NH. The 443.350 Pack Monadnock
Repeater
was linked into Cheshire County for relaying reports out
of
Cheshire County to NWS Taunton.
Activity
intensified rapidly in Western Massachusetts while severe
activity
continued across Southern New Hampshire. At 2:10 PM on 98
North
Street, trees were blown down on wires in Northfield, Mass per
KB1FTT-Scott
a spotter in the area along with trees down on Route
10. At
2:43 PM, 2-2.5 foot diameter trees were blown down in
Easthampton,
Mass. and at 2:45 PM, an Amateur Radio Spotter reported
a peak
wind gust of 71 MPH measured in Easthampton, Mass. At 2:51
PM,
several trees were blown down in Northampton, Mass. In West
Springfield,
Mass, 8-9 trees were blown down with a peak wind gust
of 59
MPH measured at Ray-KA1JJM's location with these events
occurring
between 2:52-2:55 PM. At 2:52 PM, trees were blown in
Southwick,
Mass. per Southwick EMA Director, K1II, Charlie Dunlap.
At 2:53
PM, more trees were blown down in Easthampton, Mass. At
2:55 PM
in New Salem, Massachusetts, large trees were blown on
wires.
SKYWARN was active on the 146.91 Mount Greylock Repeater
through
the efforts of K1TTT, Dave, and KB2SAE George. SKYWARN was
also
active on the 146.94-Mount Tom Repeater and the
146.985-Greenfield
Repeater through the efforts of Ray-KA1JJM, Jim-
N1VMH
and Eric-N1QKO. It would later be found out that trees were
blown
down on Route 20 in the center of Huntington at 2:25 PM and
that in
the Round Hill Road area of Chester, Mass. large trees were
blown
down. Also at 3:10 PM, trees were blown down on wires in the
town of
Orange, Mass.
Activity
continued across Southern New Hampshire with activity moving
into
Hillsborough County, NH. WA1VQP-Ken and K1CKL-Sid were on the
443.350-Pack
Monadnock Repeater to assist in the activation. At 3:15
PM,
trees were blown down in Manchester, NH and at 3:25 PM, trees
were
blown down on Message House Road in Jaffrey, NH.
Further
activity formed on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire state
border
along the squall line resulting in wind damage in the extreme
Northwest
Corner of Middlesex County. At 3:04 PM, 4 large trees were
blown
down in Pepperell, Mass. and at 3:20 PM, 2 trees were blown
down on
New Ipswich Road in Ashby, Massachusetts. Reports were
received
by Ray Dean, KB1FXP who assisted during this event and
traversed
an area from Central Worcester County to Southeast New
Hampshire.
Activity
intensified rapidly in Central Worcester County where some
of the
most significant damage of this event was done. At 3:35 PM,
numerous
reports of large branches, trees and wires down were received
in
Brookfield and West Brookfield, Mass. About 30 minutes later,
it was
reported that public safety toned out a message that a
signficant
microcburst or possible tornado occurred in West Brookfield.
That
information was forwarded by Mike Baril, N1PSE.
This
later prompted a damage survey by NWS Taunton Warning Coordination
Meteorologist,
Glenn Field, KB1GHX who was accompanied by Ray Weber,
KA1JJM.
After much consultation with other weather offices and an
initial
assessment that the event was a F1 Microburst, it was called
a F1
Tornado and Microburst and was labeled a Gustnado which is a
rare
tornado that spun up from the strength of the microburst
and
resulted in a tornado that ripped the roof off of a building and
formed
over a lake in West Brookfield. The same cell resulted in
a F1
microburst in Spencer, Massachusetts where numerous trees and
wires
were blown down and a cinder block building at the Spencer
Fairgrounds
was partially ripped apart by severe winds. The report
and
pictures of the damage were received by KB1FXP, Ray Dean.
At 3:42
PM, 8-10 trees were blown down on Route 31 some
up to 1
foot diameter in Holden, Mass. Between 3:45 and 4 PM, WX1L,
Jim
Colonies, from Shrewsbury Fire reported three separate incidents
of
large trees down in the town of Shrewsbury. In Liecester, Mass.
at 3:45
PM, trees up to 2 feet in diameter were blown down. All
reports
came from the 146.925-145.37 Worcester-Templeton linked
repeater
system. W1SEX, Paul Topolski, Gardner EMA Director and
ARES
DEC filled in for N1KKY, Tom Pratt for this event. At the
same
time these events occurred, activity continued across
Western
Massachusetts.
At 3:36
PM, a large tree and wires were blown down in Westfield,
Mass
per Pioneer Valley REACT and at 3:41 PM, trees were blown down
in
Monson, Mass. Reports were received via Ray, KA1JJM as
SKYWARN
remained active on the 146.94 Mount Tom Repeater.
CT
SKYWARN was also active with Harv, K1PZS, active on the
147.000
Soapstone Repeater. Trees were blown down in Simsbury, CT
per a
report he received on the Soapstone SKYWARN Net. It would
later
be found out that numerous other wind damage events occurred
including
trees down on a car in Bloomfield, CT.
Activity
moved into Eastern Massachusetts. Mike, W1MPN, attempted to
activate
on the 146.64 Waltham Repeater but the repeater was not
running
properly. He went to back-up repeaters including the 145.23
Boston
Repeater and the 146.955-Westford Repeater and also monitored
the
145.47 Danvers Repeater. Mark Roope, W1MAR and Jim Thomson, KA1BSH,
monitored
for SKYWARN on the 146.625-Haverhill Repeater. Jeff
Arnold,
N1FWV, was on the Danvers Repeater and as the storms
approached
Essex County Mass. numerous severe criteria reports
were
received.
In
Peabody, Massachusetts, several trees were blown down inlcuding
a tree
down on wires at 4:10 PM. Trees were blown down in South
Peabody
and Danvers Mass. at 4:15 and 4:16 PM. At 4:20 PM, scaffolding
was
blown down at the New England School of Law on Stuart Street. Also
at 4:20
PM, siding was ripped off a house. At 4:22 PM, trees and wires
were
blown down in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Activity then moved off
the
Northeast Massachusetts coast.
Across
Rhode Island and interior Southeast Massachusetts, wind damage
occurred
across portions of the area and SKYWARN was active on the
146.76-Scituate,
RI Repeater through the efforts of John-N1EGS, and
Martin-N1JMA.
On the Walpole Repeater, SKYWARN was active on the
146.895
Repeater through the efforts of Roger Turner-W1ZSA and Dave
Doe-K1HRV.
SKYWARN was also active on the 147.18-Bridgewater Repeater
through
the efforts of Gil Follett-W1GMF.
Reports
from these nets inlcuded trees down on Waldo Street at 4:45 PM
with
large trees down on East Foxboro Street in Sharon, Mass. at 4:45
PM.
Mark Duff, KB1EKN, Hingham EMA Director reported 6" Diameter
Branches
down at 5 PM in Hingham. At 5:05 PM, trees were blown down
in
Scituate RI. At 4:35 PM, trees were blown down on wires on Sisson
Road in
West Coventry RI. Activity then began to move into South
Coastal
Massachusetts but no reports of Severe Weather were received
in
these areas as the coastal waters weakened the storms.
SKYWARN
was secured at 6:15 PM as all storms moved out of the area.
This
was the largest Severe Weather Outbreak of the 2002 season
resulting
in several microbursts, and a F1 Tornado (Gustnado) event
mixed
in with a microburst in West Brookfield, Massachusetts.
Special
Thanks to all SKYWARN Spotters and Coordinators who assisted
in this
severe weather outbreak!
Respectfully
Submitted,
Robert
Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES
SKYWARN Coordinator
SEMCARES
Emergency Coordinator
Pager
#: (508) 354-3142
Home
Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data
#: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work
Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8
AM-5 PM)
Email
Address: rmacedo@rcn.com