ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 It seems to come up every now and then during severe season, so I thought I'd make a thread on it. Unfortunately there are only a few known photographs of the storm and obviously no radar images that far back. There is debate whether it was an F4 or F5, but its remained an F4 over the years. At any rate, here are some images: Rutland, MA: Holden, MA Worcester, MA: Sfc map around time storm formed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ma blizzard Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/papers/WorcesterTornado53_files/WorcesterTornado53.html slide 27: ehh some sort of radar image at least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 I forgot about that really primitive radar image. So I was wrong to say "no" radar images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 The 3rd photo I posted of the damage in Worcester is the picture that receives the most debate about F4 vs F5 status. The picture suggests F5 damage, however, there was some original questions about the construction of the houses there in that neighborhood and they've never really been able to resolve it as far as I understand so they never changed it from F4 to F5. They did review it 10 or 15 years ago but couldn't get very accurate info on the construction plans IIRC, so we are left wondering. If it had been changed to F5, it would be the only F5 east of the Apps in the Northeast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 From ma blizzard in the other thread....I forgot about this image of the tornado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 One more pic of the actual tornado I forgot to post There's one more pic of the tornado when its in North Worcester but I cannot find it now. I thought I had it saved, but I don't. I recall posting it on eastern but only God knows what thread it was in. But that would be it I think for pics. 5 known pics. There's 1 or 2 others I think that are floating around but have never been confirmed to be of that storm like these ones have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
free_man Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/papers/WorcesterTornado53_files/WorcesterTornado53.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 The most incredible thing IMHO about the '53 tornado was that it was like it was transferred out of the plains. Most tornadoes (even strong ones like 1989 in CT) in New England are rain wrapped, but this was totally visible for miles with the low wall cloud. If that storm happened even 20-30 years later, it would probably have 100s of photos of it and thousands of photos if it occurred now with the way we can track tornadic storms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 A few more damage pics: This one is cool to me personally because it has winter hill (my current area) in the backround...this was Assumption College (back then, now Quinsig) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Cool thread-- great to see all these old pics. I've also felt like this was such a bizarre event-- like you said, like it was magically transferred out of the Plains. I'm not just talking about the lack of rain-wrapping, but also the wedge shape/dimensions, the long path, and the apparent intensity. It's just weird that this happened in the Northeast USA. (I know, I'm stating the obvious.) The damage pics are something. I'm sure not qualified to tell the fine distinctions between F4 and F5, but those trees in the post above definitely look like at least F4 winds hit 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 Cool thread-- great to see all these old pics. I've also felt like this was such a bizarre event-- like you said, like it was magically transferred out of the Plains. I'm not just talking about the lack of rain-wrapping, but also the wedge shape/dimensions, the long path, and the apparent intensity. It's just weird that this happened in the Northeast USA. (I know, I'm stating the obvious.) The damage pics are something. I'm sure not qualified to tell the fine distinctions between F4 and F5, but those trees in the post above definitely look like at least F4 winds hit 'em. As mentioned above, the damage in question is the 3rd pic in the original post. It is clearly F5 damage at first glance (NWS Taunton even states this in their presentation on the storm on the their site)...but the integrity of the structures were in question. That was Uncatena Ave in Worcester which is about 1 mile from me now. The original designation was F4 wayy back when they first came out with the fujita scale long after the tornado happened. When more pics of this came out after, they thought about switching it but they couldn't get good detail on the engineering of the buildings. They kept it at F4 (it likely would have been kept at F5 too if that had been the original classification). But since they couldn't really get better info, they never changed it. When I was interning at NWS BOX, there is a plaque on the event on one of their walls and they believe the storm was an F5, but stated that it is "officially" and F4. Not sure if that's still there, but probably. They revisited the issue relatively recently (like 10-15 years ago) and couldn't come up with enough evidence to change it. But like you said, whether its officially an F5 or not, that storm is probably about the most anomalous type of severe weather event you can see in the northeast. Especially the location. It's not in Virginia or even NJ...its pretty darn far northeast...and the structure of that storm is just unbelievable. You'd think those pics were taken in Oklahoma. They look nothing like a New England thunderstorm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 One more strange but pretty cool fact about this storm Josh...despite it being back in the 1950s and no doppler radar like now and all that stuff and limited TV...there were "only 94 deaths" when you honestly would have thought about 500+ deaths based on that track and technology back then. But apparently there were a lot of heroic souls in Holden, MA that called people in Worcester and told them it was coming and then neighbors spread the word, so a lot of people who were at home managed to get to safety (almost every single home here has a basement unlike the plains). So people at home in Worcester did remarkably well. Most of the deaths were people out away from their home. If the storm had hit about 60 minutes sooner, then it might have been so much worse. But a lot of people at Norton Company (big company in North Worcester that has a ton of employees and is still there to this day) had already left to go home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwiz Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Yeah definitely the most striking thing about this was that it was not rain wrapped. This is just an incredible wedge tornado, clearly a LP supercell and those are about as rare as anything here in the Northeast. Conditions were incredibly primed that afternoon for something like that to occur. The longevity of this tornado is pretty crazy as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwiz Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 One more strange but pretty cool fact about this storm Josh...despite it being back in the 1950s and no doppler radar like now and all that stuff and limited TV...there were "only 94 deaths" when you honestly would have thought about 500+ deaths based on that track and technology back then. But apparently there were a lot of heroic souls in Holden, MA that called people in Worcester and told them it was coming and then neighbors spread the word, so a lot of people who were at home managed to get to safety (almost every single home here has a basement unlike the plains). So people at home in Worcester did remarkably well. Most of the deaths were people out away from their home. If the storm had hit about 60 minutes sooner, then it might have been so much worse. But a lot of people at Norton Company (big company in North Worcester that has a ton of employees and is still there to this day) had already left to go home. Yeah considering the monster that was the death toll could have been much worse, especially given how it was early 50's. I'm also stunned many people took the warnings seriously (if this is true), this was at a time when it was even illegal for tornado warnings to be issued for the most part b/c the gov't believe this caused more harm than good and the financial costs as well as others things wasn't worth it. If something like this were to happen today here who knows what would really happen. I always feel like people around these parts really don't take these things too seriously, especially when it comes to tornado warnings and the majority of these things seem to happen during rush hour time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 Yeah definitely the most striking thing about this was that it was not rain wrapped. This is just an incredible wedge tornado, clearly a LP supercell and those are about as rare as anything here in the Northeast. Conditions were incredibly primed that afternoon for something like that to occur. The longevity of this tornado is pretty crazy as well. A 46 mile track length is almost impossible in New England. That's what the '53 storm was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwiz Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 A 46 mile track length is almost impossible in New England. That's what the '53 storm was. That's sick...not many here have tracked that long, I'm shocked though that was beaten, the Epsom, NH tornado in 2008 tracked 50 miles! That's even fairly impressive for the Plains. I think there was one in CT...1963 but the Waterbury tornado...that one tracked quite a ways too, I think 35+ miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 That's sick...not many here have tracked that long, I'm shocked though that was beaten, the Epsom, NH tornado in 2008 tracked 50 miles! That's even fairly impressive for the Plains. I think there was one in CT...1963 but the Waterbury tornado...that one tracked quite a ways too, I think 35+ miles. The most incredible part about it was that it went to like F3 really fast and then tracked almost the entire way as at least F3, and most of the way as an F4 (and likely F5 for a stretch in ORH and Shrewsbury but not able to be confirmed 100%). To have a wedge like that track almost 50 miles is sick anywhere...but especially in New England. Like said previously, its amazing those pics are from here...they look like shots from Oklahoma, the only give away that they are from here are the hills and trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwiz Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 The most incredible part about it was that it went to like F3 really fast and then tracked almost the entire way as at least F3, and most of the way as an F4 (and likely F5 for a stretch in ORH and Shrewsbury but not able to be confirmed 100%). To have a wedge like that track almost 50 miles is sick anywhere...but especially in New England. Like said previously, its amazing those pics are from here...they look like shots from Oklahoma, the only give away that they are from here are the hills and trees. Yeah for a tornado to be of that intensity for so long is pretty damn incredible, even out in the Plains when they get long-tracked tornadoes often times they vary in strength along the path and will get pretty weak but not this monster, it stayed strong/violent the entire path virtually. The balance of cape/shear must have been about as perfect as you can ever get...especially for here. Those pictures are really stunning...just to be able to get shots like that here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 Yeah for a tornado to be of that intensity for so long is pretty damn incredible, even out in the Plains when they get long-tracked tornadoes often times they vary in strength along the path and will get pretty weak but not this monster, it stayed strong/violent the entire path virtually. The balance of cape/shear must have been about as perfect as you can ever get...especially for here. Those pictures are really stunning...just to be able to get shots like that here. What I wouldn't give to see that happen now, except over a more rural area. The shots we'd get now would be so much better. The video too. No video of that storm that we know of. I bet there are still pics out there of that storm that we haven't found yet. My grandparents moved to the Burncoat neighborhood in 1956 just 3 years after that storm and all their neighbors said they took pics of that storm as it was coming in because on Burncoat hill they had a great view of it before it hit. But only like 5 of the pics thus far have ever been recovered (and only one from Burncoat hill in N ORH)...one of them I didn't post is an amazing shot before it Assumption college (back then) which is on the west slope of burncoat hill. But the true heroes in that storm are the people from Holden...those who still had phones called and told the ORH people it was coming and to get in the basement....and it probably saved hundreds of lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-L-E-X Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I forgot about that really primitive radar image. So I was wrong to say "no" radar images. Wow, was that one of the first weather radar images ever taken? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-L-E-X Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 The most incredible part about it was that it went to like F3 really fast and then tracked almost the entire way as at least F3, and most of the way as an F4 (and likely F5 for a stretch in ORH and Shrewsbury but not able to be confirmed 100%). To have a wedge like that track almost 50 miles is sick anywhere...but especially in New England. Like said previously, its amazing those pics are from here...they look like shots from Oklahoma, the only give away that they are from here are the hills and trees. Will, would you say that was more anomalous than the Windsor Locks F4? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted May 30, 2011 Author Share Posted May 30, 2011 Will, would you say that was more anomalous than the Windsor Locks F4? Yes...the Windsor Locks TOR in 1979 gets points for being in October, but it was quite short lived. The ORH tornado was 46 miles of track and almost all of was violent (F3 or greater...and most of it F4). The ORH tornado was a plains supercell type structure while the 1979 BDL TOR was a fluke that went nuts...very impressive but once again, short lived. There are no known pics of the BDL 1979 tornado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Will...did that hit Winter Hill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSUmetstud Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 any soundings nearby back then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Yes...the Windsor Locks TOR in 1979 gets points for being in October, but it was quite short lived. The ORH tornado was 46 miles of track and almost all of was violent (F3 or greater...and most of it F4). The ORH tornado was a plains supercell type structure while the 1979 BDL TOR was a fluke that went nuts...very impressive but once again, short lived. There are no known pics of the BDL 1979 tornado. From a met perspective the 1979 BDL tornado was more bizarre. Getting an F4 from that setup is just wild. In terms of a more classic supercell and impressive storm the ORH tornado wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I am always creeped out by those pictures. There is also a great picture of the towering supercell somewhere. It was a monster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 There was something like 4000J of CAPE based on a reanalysis of the atmosphere. Just sick. I think there is an Albany sounding floating around from 12Z that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Slideshow with mostly color images of some destruction, along with 1 cloud shot http://www.worcesterma.gov/city-clerk/history/general/1953-worcester-tornado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Good old newsreel footage Color home movies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I heard a story about a kid opening the door and yelling at his parents to "look" outside, and then got sucked out. BOX has a nice ppt on the tornado where many of those images posted are shown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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