Figure 1 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 Philipston, MA F2 tornado of August 9, 1972 impacted Worcester County in Massachusetts. According to NOAA (2019), the F2 tornado caused no fatalities, but caused 1 injury and $25 thousand dollars in property damage. The tornado touched down near Philipston at 3:30 pm EDT. The tornado travelled for 9.7 miles and had a maximum width of 10 yards.
Sources
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/
