Two significant tornadoes impacted Massachusetts on June 9, 1953: this F3 and an F4 tornado near Worcester. These tornadoes were part of a multi-day outbreak that began in the Central Plains (Figure 1) on June 7th, which included an F4 tornado in Nebraska. On June 8th, the outbreak targeted the Great Lakes, which spawned two F4 tornadoes and one F5 tornado in Michigan as well as one long-track F4 tornado in Ohio.
As the outbreak moved east, it impacted the state of Massachusetts on June 9th and spawned an F4 tornado and F3 tornado, both near Worcester. According to NOAA (2019), this F3 tornado caused no fatalities, injured 17 people and caused $7.5 million dollars in property damage.
The forecast
Figure 2 depicts the surface observations at 2:30 am EDT, which shows a large cold front moving across the Midwest of the United States and a warm front stretching across Massachusetts. This cold front became the focus for intense thunderstorms in the afternoon hours of June 9th.
Figure 3 depicts a hand-analysis around 3:00 pm EDT, which depicts the cold front moving across New York state and a line of pre-frontal thunderstorms (squall line) entering Massachusetts. This squall line was responsible for an F4 tornado near Worcester and this F3 tornado near Millbury.
Recap
The Millbury to Mansfield, MA F3 tornado of June 9, 1953 impacted Worcester County in Massachusetts. According to NOAA (2019), the F3 tornado caused no fatalities, injured 17 people and caused $7.5 million dollars in property damage. The tornado touched down in Worcester County southeast of Millbury at 5:30 pm EDT and travelled 28 miles to lift in Bristol County north of Mansfield at roughly 6:30 pm EDT. This F3 had a maximum width of 667 yards.
Sources
NOAA Central Library. (2019). U.S. Daily Weather Maps. Tuesday June 9, 1953 [PDF]. Retrieved from https://library.noaa.gov/Collections/Digital-Collections/US-Daily-Weather-Maps
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2019). Storm Events Database. Retrieved from: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/
