Figure 2 depicts the surface observations at 8:00 am EDT, which shows an occluding front across the Great Lakes and a warm front near Massachusetts. The warm front became the focus for intense thunderstorms throughout the day on August 9th, which ultimately led to three tornadoes across the state.
The Needham, MA F1 tornado of August 9, 1972 impacted Norfolk County in Massachusetts. According to NOAA (2019), the F1 tornado caused 1 fatality, 6 injuries and caused $25 thousand dollars in property damage. The tornado touched down south of Needham at 3:30 pm EDT. The tornado travelled for 4.9 miles and had a maximum width of 30 yards.
Sources
Boston Globe. (Aug. 13, 2014). 1972 Summer Tornadoes. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/2014/08/13/summer-tornadoes/ycEtkZZHQMAOeuJLoPYjdL/story.html
NOAA Central Library. (2019). U.S. Daily Weather Maps. Wednesday August 9, 1972 [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/
