Figure 1 depicts the surface observations at 2:30 am EDT, which shows a cold front across the U.S. Midwest and a warm front across the Great Lakes. The cold front moved east throughout the day and triggered thunderstorms, which reached Massachusetts in the late-evening hours of November 21st. These thunderstorms were responsible for three F2 tornadoes across the state.
There is a lot of uncertainty in regards to this tornado. NOAA’s (2019) tornado database has this tornado over Wachusett Reservoir, therefore making it a waterspout and has a length of only 0.1 miles. This would mean that the tornado never reached land, which begs to question how this tornado cause $2.5M dollars in damage? One answer is that it could have damage the Wachusett Dam.
![](https://highwaysandhailstones.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Untitled-17.png)
The Wachusett Reservoir, MA F2 tornado of November 21, 1956 impacted Worcester County in Massachusetts. According to NOAA (2019), the F2 tornado caused no fatalities or injuries, but caused $2.5 million dollars in property damage. The tornado touched down in Worcester County in Wachusett Reservoir at 11:08 pm EDT. The tornado travelled for 0.1 mile and had a maximum width of 17 yards.
Sources
NOAA Central Library. (2019). U.S. Daily Weather Maps. Wednesday November 21, 1956 [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/