Massachusetts Tornado - 1 Year Later

[CoastalWx]

Well part of the problem with this tornado is that for Springfield, West Springfield, and Westfield there was no warning when there should have been. Additionally the warning was allowed to expire when the tornado was still on the ground! Mistakes happen and this was clearly a big mistake.

While you can look at the NWS for part of the problem with this I believe that individual mets (and more important those who play one on TV... who are non-degreed) should spend a significant amount of time learning how to interpret radar and keeping up with the latest science. Many in the media are totally incapable of correctly interpreting doppler radar (even some degreed ones!) and that's a problem!

When the warning wasn't issued and was later allowed to expire... a TV met comfortable with and proficient in interpreting radar should have been sounding the warning bells as loud as possible even without an official warning. Sadly, professional development is sorely lacking by some.

On a different note I think people are lulled into a false sense of security around here about tornadoes partially because we as a community need to do a better job of educating and partially because they're overwarned. I don't know how to change the latter - I don't think you really can.

Anyway sorry for the rant... just some things I've been thinking about lol

And that's a problem with the public in general...even in tornado prone areas. A coworker of mine told me a story about a call a 911 dispatcher got from some gentleman in Illinois. The sirens were going off and the guy called 911 asking why the sirens were going off. The dispatcher told the guy that a tornado warning was issued. His response while looking out the front door was..."well I don't see a tornado...." LOL. Educating the public is a tough task. They'll always be those who think it won't happen to them because the last time a warning was issued..it never happened. That goes back to my earlier post. It's the general behavior and feelings that a large chunk of the public seem to have. This isn't restricted to tornado warnings either, but that's another story.

If anything, the media hype is probably saving lives. As annoying as it is to see tornadoes being sometimes blown out of proportion....I feel like the public really had a first hand look to what tornadoes can do. It may cause some to think twice about dismissing warnings. In the age of smart phones and social media. Images and video like we've never seen before our being broadcast throughout the internet.

[Buckeye05]

Why?

The bark is still on the trees. In most EF5's it is usually stripped off of the tree.

Yeah I withdraw that statement. I was just thinking that, and also I didn't look closely at the "before" pic. It looks like it was one of those quick-built suburban style wood frame homes, which an EF3 can level pretty easily.

[CT Rain]

And that's a problem with the public in general...even in tornado prone areas. A coworker of mine told me a story about a call a 911 dispatcher got from some gentleman in Illinois. The sirens were going off and the guy called 911 asking why the sirens were going off. The dispatcher told the guy that a tornado warning was issued. His response while looking out the front door was..."well I don't see a tornado...." LOL. Educating the public is a tough task. They'll always be those who think it won't happen to them because the last time a warning was issued..it never happened. That goes back to my earlier post. It's the general behavior and feelings that a large chunk of the public seem to have. This isn't restricted to tornado warnings either, but that's another story.

If anything, the media hype is probably saving lives. As annoying as it is to see tornadoes being sometimes blown out of proportion....I feel like the public really had a first hand look to what tornadoes can do. It may cause some to think twice about dismissing warnings. In the age of smart phones and social media. Images and video like we've never seen before our being broadcast throughout the internet.

Agreed. Educating will always be an uphill battle but it needs to be done. Explaining the threat from each storm in a concise and appropriate manner is also important which is something that the media has to do a better job of as well.

[ORH_wxman]

The anchor bolts are still there and twisted like they were immediately following the storm. I don't know why this house didn't constitute EF4 damage with the anchor bolts there. I don't necessarily disagree with the rating just don't know the specific rationale or whether or not they even saw this house up close?

It was essentially on the line between EF3 and EF4...I think they called it a 165 mph EF3, right? That is 1 mph short of an EF4...so its pretty trivial. I would think either rating would be okay...we just will probably never know if it was a 161mph EF3 or a 168mph EF4.

[CT Rain]

It was essentially on the line between EF3 and EF4...I think they called it a 165 mph EF3, right? That is 1 mph short of an EF4...so its pretty trivial. I would think either rating would be okay...we just will probably never know if it was a 161mph EF3 or a 168mph EF4.

Yeah exactly. I have no problem with the rating... haven't seen any convincing evidence either way to be honest.

I was just saying I didn't know any specific rationale for that specific case (or if they even surveyed that house... I don't know).

[Modfan]

The pictures of the Church in Monson is one of my work locations, you can see the antenna on the right side, they used to be on the steeple that was on left side! The one thing that seems to be missed is the damage in Sturbridge and Southbridge. Her are some pics from Rt 169 in Southbridge and Sturbridge. First Pic is Fiske Hill Rd in Sturbridge, the 2nd is Rt 169 in Southbridge looking west at the Condo complex that was destroyed, and the last was the East side of Rt 169.

[Damage In Tolland]

If you look at the radar archive as the Monson tornado lifted a brief rotation was noted just east of IJD. We were under a warning and for a couple of minutes Matt Noyes was telling folks to hit the basement just to my west. That cell quickly dissipated but after watching the destruction live in Mass you betcha that couple of minutes had my mind racing. Having a tree rip through my house in Irene I can only minutely relate to the angst of those in Mass. That being said, the tornado was the most awesome display of nature destruction I have seen. When I went up there much later in the summer I could not believe my eyes.

Pics?

[Ginx snewx]

Pics?

Posted many times in the Irene thread.

[Damage In Tolland]

Posted many times in the Irene thread.

I only vaguely recall. I don't remember seeing your house torn up by a tree though.Seemed like it was a gutter or something Could you just post it one more time?

[Modfan]

_{The Worcester Telegram has video interview with a Soutbridge man, recalling the day, and his photos. This gentleman is the track photographer at Thompson Speedway, and we talk weekly as we both work there, and his stories and photos are amazing.}

_{http://www.telegram.com/}

[ineedsnow]

Thats what happened to me I was coming back from the northampton storm and didnt even realize what was about to happen until it was already in front of me. Thats a day ill never forget

Did you think I just happened to be there lol

[CT Rain]

Here are the tweets I sent out that day... preserved them on the blog.

http://ryanhanrahan.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/tornado-through-ryanhanrahan/

[CoastalWx]

Here are the tweets I sent out that day... preserved them on the blog.

http://ryanhanrahan.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/tornado-through-ryanhanrahan/

That FC ob is all you need to know.

[CT Rain]

If you have time this 68 page thread is worth the read.

The typical clowns and trolls for the first 25 pages followed by awe.

[CoastalWx]

If you have time this 68 page thread is worth the read.

http://www.americanw...tial-wednesday/

The typical clowns and trolls for the first 25 pages followed by awe.

Of course it's Kevin leading the way.

[Damage In Tolland]

Of course it's Kevin leading the way.

At least Ryan didn't call me out by name even though he was directly referring to me. You just come right out and say it. Nice.

[CoastalWx]

At least Ryan didn't call me out by name even though he was directly referring to me. You just come right out and say it. Nice.

You're sensitive lately.

[CT Rain]

At least Ryan didn't call me out by name even though he was directly referring to me. You just come right out and say it. Nice.

Actually... only like 20% you... 80% other people.

[CoastalWx]

This is a pretty cool paper for those who might be more hobbyists. It breaks it down nicely.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/soo/presentations/tornadogenesis.pdf

[CoastalWx]

The key really is the rotating updraft. There is a reason why they are called supercells. They take no prisoners as they literally create their own environment. Rotation enhances updraft acceleration as it forms a meso low that is basically an area of lower pressure relative to it's surroundings. Also, it augments lift over stable boundaries where it otherwise might not happen. Lifting of these boundaries allows high helicity air to be ingested.

[Ed Lizard]

This thread inspired a YouTube search.

Some confusion early between what is a funnel cloud and what is a tornado...

[scoob40]

Lots of stuff goin on around the city today in remembrance. My office building was just on the periphery of the South End where the damage was greatest downtown. Had already left for the gym and when I got there you could see it coming from W.Spfld near the railroad bridge and then it went over or near the Memorial Bridge crossing the river heading across Columbus Ave towards the South End. An Assistant Dist. Atty. coming out of the Court House and walking to her car was hit in the head with debris falling from the SECC and was out of work for a few months but is fully recovered and back at work. A day which will not be forgotten by those who witnessed or were caught in it any time soon.

[NJwinter23]

Well part of the problem with this tornado is that for Springfield, West Springfield, and Westfield there was no warning when there should have been. Additionally the warning was allowed to expire when the tornado was still on the ground! Mistakes happen and this was clearly a big mistake.

While you can look at the NWS for part of the problem with this I believe that individual mets (and more important those who play one on TV... who are non-degreed) should spend a significant amount of time learning how to interpret radar and keeping up with the latest science. Many in the media are totally incapable of correctly interpreting doppler radar (even some degreed ones!) and that's a problem!

When the warning wasn't issued and was later allowed to expire... a TV met comfortable with and proficient in interpreting radar should have been sounding the warning bells as loud as possible even without an official warning. Sadly, professional development is sorely lacking by some.

On a different note I think people are lulled into a false sense of security around here about tornadoes partially because we as a community need to do a better job of educating and partially because they're overwarned. I don't know how to change the latter - I don't think you really can.

Anyway sorry for the rant... just some things I've been thinking about lol

I remember there being a long thread about what could have happened with that, but not sure if an explanation was ever confirmed as to why the warning was so late.

My guess is that they were so concerned with the Northampton cell which formed first, had the rotation/warning and was heading for worcester...and the westfield cell slipped through the cracks for 20 mins.

There was an instance like this in late July 2009 here in the Mt. Holly cwa. There was a strong supercell in middlesex county NJ between philly/nyc with weak rotation and a severe t-storm warning. Ended up producing severe hail and 70 mph winds in Edison, but while the radar man was focusing on that cell, a pair of supercell's in NE PA and NW NJ produced EF-2 tornadoes. The NE PA cell was warned, but the Sussex County NJ cell is the one that went un-warned for a while I believe. granted this occurred in an un-populated area unlike the Springfield event.

[radarman]

I remember there being a long thread about what could have happened with that, but not sure if an explanation was ever confirmed as to why the warning was so late.

My guess is that they were so concerned with the Northampton cell which formed first, had the rotation/warning and was heading for worcester...and the westfield cell slipped through the cracks for 20 mins.

The reason for the late warning was that the KBOX radar was range-folded in the region of the tornado. Once they changed the prf the warning went up immediately.

The KENX radar is always better in this area, but I can't necessarily call it a 'mistake' to not have had it queued up because the bandwidth sucks in the Taunton office, which is NOT their fault. I am making it a mission to try to improve that situation.

[CT Rain]

The reason for the late warning was that the KBOX radar was range-folded in the region of the tornado. Once they changed the prf the warning went up immediately.

The KENX radar is always better in this area, but I can't necessarily call it a 'mistake' to not have had it queued up because the bandwidth sucks in the Taunton office, which is NOT their fault. I am making it a mission to try to improve that situation.

Yeah the ENX beam is lower so samples better northwest of Springfield. I've heard the same things about bandwidth and that's disgraceful to be honest. I can look at high res level 2 data on a laptop with gr2 using a Verizon air card with no problem.

[Ginx snewx]

I only vaguely recall. I don't remember seeing your house torn up by a tree though.Seemed like it was a gutter or something Could you just post it one more time?

[TheTrials]

Yeah the ENX beam is lower so samples better northwest of Springfield. I've heard the same things about bandwidth and that's disgraceful to be honest. I can look at high res level 2 data on a laptop with gr2 using a Verizon air card with no problem.

The reason for the late warning was that the KBOX radar was range-folded in the region of the tornado. Once they changed the prf the warning went up immediately.

The KENX radar is always better in this area, but I can't necessarily call it a 'mistake' to not have had it queued up because the bandwidth sucks in the Taunton office, which is NOT their fault. I am making it a mission to try to improve that situation.

IIRC, there was also disco in that thread from Taunton mets that they were looking for visual confirmation and didn't get it until they saw the cams from the west springfield bridge.

There was back and forth in that same area of the thread about the westfield ob and how the FC ob was dropped after it was first reported which played into it as well.

This is all from memory, the thread has the actual info, but I am pretty sure i have it right.

[radarman]

There was back and forth in that same area of the thread about the westfield ob and how the FC ob was dropped after it was first reported which played into it as well.

I think that explanation was in response to the question of "why wasn't the warning put out upon receiving the FC ob?" It's valid reasoning...

IIRC, there was also disco in that thread from Taunton mets that they were looking for visual confirmation and didn't get it until they saw the cams from the west springfield bridge.

I don't recall this and hope it isn't true... No doubt the signature was warnable based on radar alone. Technical reasons delayed getting good data to the radar op, but I've never heard of mets waiting for visual confirmation on an otherwise slam-dunk TOR.

[TheTrials]

I think that explanation was in response to the question of "why wasn't the warning put out upon receiving the FC ob?" It's valid reasoning...

I don't recall this and hope it isn't true... No doubt the signature was warnable based on radar alone. Technical reasons delayed getting good data to the radar op, but I've never heard of mets waiting for visual confirmation on an otherwise slam-dunk TOR.

Again, its IIRC, but, i believe that the RF issue and drop of the FC prompted them to hold until they saw it, whether that is the right protocol etc, not my call.

I am going to try to find that disco, its worth a review.

EDIT: See post below.

[TheTrials]

OK people...you were NOT sitting in the chair, OK?? Guys, we look at ALL slices, not just the lowest slice to see correlated rotation. Just because it's in the lowest layer doesn't mean it is going to drop a long lived tornado.

FYI, our radar was switched over to VCP212 to give us as many slices as quickly as it can. However, there is a drawback. It's called range folding. And, guess what??? That storm was in the range fold. We didn't have the luxury of time to fix the range fold area and, from what the radar operators (two of my colleagues told me) it may not have helped. I was working the short term desk, not warnings, but I did hear that AS SOON AS IT CAME OUT OF RANGE FOLD and saw how much rotation the storm had, we issued.

For another thing, we are NOT staring at the OBS every minute of our shift, we have MANY other responsibilities to handle. Luckily, I saw messages on NWSchat we now have at the office, and I did relay the FUNNEL CLOUD report from BAF to the office as soon as I saw it!!! Plus, we had communications with WWLP directly on NWSchat and they sent the message over about the tornado forming right near their studios on the Connecticut River on their webcam. Once we could get the streaming video to go (our Internet connection is terrible most of the time) happened to coincide to when the storm came out of range fold. This was the FIRST warning issued for this storm, and, even though other TORs were issued prior to this one, it can still be a bit hard to pull the trigger especially for such a large city as Springfield. But, considering everything that was going on 6/1, we did a pretty good job, IMHO. We had lead time of up to 54 minutes on one warning downstream of Springfield, which probably saved MANY LIVES.

I'm going to be starting another thread on my project for today (6/2). I was a part of the tornado survey team that toured through Monson, Brimfield, Sturbridge and Southbridge. Once the final determination is issued, I think you will be very surprised with our findings. Two of my colleagues and myself (including one of the people that was operating radar and warnings yesterday) arrived in Monson at about 1030 AM, and didn't arrive back at the office until around 930 PM. A very long and unbelieveable day. I can tell you this...and my 26 years in the NWS, I NEVER thought that I would see this type of damage in my home state. It was simply AMAZING. More tomorrow...

I hope this explains things. For those that will still yap and complain, all I can say is...if you could have the opportunity to sit in the chair and issues these type of warnings, I think you would take a MUCH different perspective on the ramifications of these decisions. We DO NOT take issuing tornado warnings lightly. We know the importance of getting these as best we can given our abilities, capabilities and experience. I know that I think about the lives I can possibly save by my actions whenever I issue warnings. It's heartbreaking to hear of 4 people that lost their lives, and the stories I heard today from people that lost their homes. Our #1 job in the NWS is "the protection of life and property," and we take that VERY SERIOUSLY!!!

'nuff said.

--Turtle

...and all the other quotes...

Well pardon me and my colleagues for existing! A lot of the posters here seem to have a strong perception of: a) What happened in an office that none of them were in, and How NONE of it would have happened if only the NWS had had the wisdom to give THEM the keys to the AWIPS warning workstation.

This is America, and you all have the right to vent as you please. But from the view of someone who was there at the time (although not on the radar desk), your negative comments come across as the grumblings of a group of backseat drivers.

Here are a few more items to consider in addition to the indignation.....

252pm Tornado Warning issued for Cheshire County ... subsequent ground truth ... several reports of large hail

309 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for several segements of NW MA ... subsequent ground truth ... two reports of straight line wind, more reports of large hail

324 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for parts of Cheshire and Hillsborough .. subsquent ground truth ... reports of large hail

328 pm Tornado Warning issued for parts of Franklin-Hampshire-Hampden ... subsequent ground truth ... reports of large hail

332 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for parts of Worcester-Middlesex-Cheshire ... subsequent ground truth ... Nothing!

405 pm Tornado Warning issued for parts of 4 counties around Quabbin ... subsequent ground truth ... Large hail, one report of wind damage in Hadley at 415 pm.

And then there were...

418 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for parts of several counties including Springfield-Holyoke-Westfield. This warning included a statement to the effect that a tornado was possible.

430 pm Tornado Warning issued for Springfield, et al. We all now know what happened.

We know how to read couplet signatures at Taunton. We also know that proper Warning Decision making goes beyond just looking at the SRM. For example, incorporating ground truth. Three tornado warnings with no tornadoes to show for the effort.

The site surveys that occurred today were just a part of the review process on this storm. We will learn what we can from it and move on. Without righteousness.

Yes, the observer does augment the OB to put in that remark. When that goes into the remark, TORNADO shows up in the present weather!! I saw the TORNADO and funnel cloud (FC) in the OB.

For those of you that didn't read the remarks further, the FC began at 23 after the hour, and ENDED at 24 after. It lasted a grand total ONE MINUTE!!! It did remain in the OB much longer, likely because ASOS didn't pick up the ending time for some reason. I noticed it didn't clear the FC, so I called the observer at BAF as soon as I noticed it. They sent a special to take it out nearly immediately.

Another FYI.

--Turtle

I saw this mentioned earlier, and yes, KENX radar is certainly an option. Since I was not working the radar desk, I don't know if they were looking at KENX radar. I can tell you things were happening fast and furious at the office around the time of the touchdown in Springfield/Westfield, and kept up until I left at 8 PM (and I heard longer). However, as someone else mentioned in this thread, both KBOX and KENX radars to cut off the lower 5-6Kft of the storm. This does make a big difference in getting the whole structure of the storm, but we have a bit more of a problem with this in low topped convection. Also, I don't know what VCP they were operating in. OK, yes, they saw the rotation. And yes, we can use KENX, KGYX and KOKX to help us. But again, things were happening quickly, and we did the best we could to keep up. Bill was on the long term desk and shift supervisor, so he was monitoring things as best he could too.

As many other said here, this review process, the storm surveys (there were two teams out there yesterday) along with a event review at the office will only help us get better for the next time.

--Turtle

1.) Our big problem with bandwidth is because we operate on what's called NOAAnet. We are hooked up with our entire Eastern Region, I believe that's a total of 27 offices through our regional headquarters in Bohemia, NY. This includes NYC, us, Philly and Washington, DC. This can get very bogged down (remember this past winter when there were major server problems??), and makes things very slow. OK, maybe not yesterday, but we do know that our website (weather.gov/boston) is nearly at the top or actually the top in Internet "hits," especially for a winter storm. It is VERY frustrating for us, but we do have AWIPS to look at most things. And yes, it is somewhat embarrassing (IMHO) that you guys at home can get stuff quickly over the 'net than we can at KBOX. Also, there's the old issue of $$$. Increasing bandwidth ain't cheap, and I'm sure you know about the gov't budget situation. It isn't going to get better anytime soon. Can't come up with a solution for this one.

2.) Yes, ground truth is of utmost importance. BUT, when the FC only lasts ONE MINUTE?? And, I wasn't working the radar to see if there was continued rotation. It IS of utmost importance to get this out quickly, of course. Yes, we still do the warnings "by hand" so we can read over the warning before sending them. But, if we issued TORs with every one minute FC seen, and automatically to boot, we'd have a HUGE FAR. (And yes, we are being scrutinzed for our FARs and PODs.) Granted, the atmospheric environment was totally different than a "run of the mill" New England thunderstorm threat, OK. This was a totally different animal for us yesterday. I do have to give SPC a HUGE . They had this event NAILED up to 5 days out on their experimental convective outlooks on their website, along with the EMLs that were mentioned. Maybe we didn't give this enough credence, I don't know. Again, something to look at during the event review.

On another note, I wasn't taking this thread and some comments personally (well, maybe I was a bit). I'm just really sick and tired of the "Monday morning quarterbacking," as Ryan said in his post. It's really VERY FRUSTRATING to read this stuff after working this huge event, knowing that we did the best job we could to get those warnings out as quickly as possible, with the perverbial you-know-what hitting the fan. I do apologize if I did come across that way in my original post.

--Turtle

Exactly. This is an important point. The field offices are evaluated on both detection and false alarms. So we can't just throw up a bunch of warnings and hope one or two will stick. We need to be able to justify, if only to ourselves, that there is a fair likelihood that warning criteria will be met.

1. In addition to what Eleanor has said on this subject, the data flow into our office is actually for TWO offices...BOX and the Northeast River Forecast Center. We could use more bandwidth, but we're not holding our breath given the current fiscal situation.

2. The BAF observation is mostly automated, with augmentation by FAA controllers in the tower. There are no NWS people at the various observation sites, and have not been for many years. The observation that come through is funnel cloud, not "massive funnel cloud". And as Eleanor noted, the Funnel Cloud was gone as fast as the observation came out (1 minute duration).

3. "high shear, high lapse rates, extreme instability" We had had that all afternoon. And as noted in my previous post, we had previously issued 3 Tornado Warnings...and had no reports of tornadoes or funnel clouds or wall clouds. You had 120 kts gate to gate. Well, bully for you. We had purple haze. (I had forgotten that, thanks to Eleanor for bringing that up.) Based on the information we had at the time, our radar/warning operator went with a Severe Tstm Warning that mentioned the possibility of a tornado. That went out at 418 pm. Once the couplet moved out of the haze, and the couplet became viewable, the warning was upgraded to a Tornado Warning.

4. A supercell in New England carries a high likelihood of ANY severe weather, but does not guarantee a tornado. Please refer to the Northern MA supercell of last summer, or the CT-Nrn RI-SE MA supercell of August 10 2000; both showed couplets and incredibly frequent lightning, but neither produced a tornado. Couplets are important, but they are not infallible as some posters in this thread seem to be implying.

5. "rather sit in my basement" Congratulations. Others are not so forgiving. They will complain about our unnecessarily frightening them, and the population of a major city, for a phantom tornado. And then next time they will be less likely to react. We will warn for what we feel is justified based on the information that we have.

6. "It's a warning, not a forecast that needs to be verified." Warnings are verified, watches are verified, forecasts are verified.

7. Earlier quote: "CT Rain @ 4:20 pm: whoA Westfield/Barnes MA (BAF) ASOS reports Tornado KBAF 012024Z [etc] FUNNEL CLOUD B23 E24"

Think this is a typo. How can a 4:20 pm entry be quoting an observation from 2024Z...which is 4:24 pm...and citing a funnel cloud that began at 423 pm and ended at 424 pm?

It was really interesting to read the responses from the actual forecasters at KBOX. I, along with the many others in this thread that have already said, certainly appreciate it.

That being said, I just wanted to give my point of view on the whole situation... call it Monday Morning Quarterbacking if you want, but the bottom line is that it's important to review events like this so we can improve the way we do things. It's absolutely nothing personal.

First off, I was a bit unnerved to hear the ENX radar just referred to as "another option." I work for a station that covers a large area... big chunk of West Virginia, Southeastern Ohio, Eastern KY, and a few VA counties just south of WV. When we cover storms, we use whichever radar is closest to the storm being analyzed! KRLX is usually the one that is the right choice, but a lot of the time it's KILN, KJKL, or KRNK. Even while we're covering storms live on the air during an outbreak with lots of warnings, we switch between the radar sites ALL the time.

Even when I'm geeking out at home and tracking random storms between radar sites, I sometimes open 2 instances of GR.. one for each site.. due to range and range folding issues.

I know it's only a 10-15 mile difference in this case... at 4:11, the storm was 62 miles from ENX and 75 miles from BOX. That's still a difference between 5700ft and 7600ft elevation on the 0.5º scan. That's a fairly small difference, I think we can probably agree on that. But what I can't understand is why it was just acceptable in your mind to "watch that couplet go into RF" when you could have easily seen it (at a lower elevation mind you) on ENX and then picked it up on BOX as it got into Springfield. I know I wasn't sitting in the chair that night but I can guarantee you if I was, I would have had a look at that storm on ENX when it went into BOX's purple haze. In fact, I probably would have been analyzing it on ENX in the first place until it got very close to Springfield.

All that being said, if switching radar sites is cumbersome for you guys due to whatever radar viewing program you're using then I stand corrected.

Trust me, I'm majorly aware of the high rate of non-verifying warnings and I think tornado warnings especially are WAY overdone in general so I love the fact that you guys were trying to be careful not to go that route. Maybe I'm wrong and if I am please correct me if that's the case, but I would imagine the vast majority of false alarm tornado warnings are due to radar based warnings rather than ground confirmation/funnel cloud report based warnings.. things like warning every single little spin up in a weak bow echo (which a certain office near me does quite often)... But I think if there's a legitimate funnel cloud/rotating wall cloud report.. even for one only lasting a minute, that should be enough for a warning... especially considering the atmospheric conditions that day. Like I said, that's just my personal opinion so take it for what it's worth (which I understand might not be much )

Overall, even if the storm was warned 10 minutes earlier it probably wouldn't have made too much of a difference in this case but I still think it's worth having conversation about and reviewing the whole situation so we can all learn from it. Heck, I majorly blew the forecast for my DMA yesterday saying it would be dry all day and then watching that MCS that was coming out of Canada over Lake Erie in the early morning survive the ridge and make it all the way down into VA through the late afternoon, carving a path of downed trees/power lines through my DMA leaving hundreds without power. So when I got to work this morning, I wasn't defensive... I just manned up to it on the air, and learned from the whole experience.

I hope I didn't come across as a pompous ass.. sometimes my internet speaking style doesn't do a great job of representing my in person speaking style... hopefully we can still be friends?

Very easy to do, Nick. We have dedicated data coming in from ENX, OKX and GYX on AWIPS. Can not due this with all products coming in from the radar. We have selected products (such as reflectivity, velocity, etc.) set up that day then, if there's a product we want, we can request it or put in a multiple request (like 20 versions of OHP), and it should come in unless there's communications problems. Then, all we have to do is call up what product(s) we want. We also have GR2Analyst on all operational PCs on the floor, but have to start the polling to get the data on whichever site we want. However, we have to refresh all our preset info (background maps, the URL for the polling site, etc.) whenever the PCs are upgraded (which is more frequent than one would think).

Bill and I were not working radar during this event. We were the dedicated forecasters on the shift, but did cut back on updating the grids to help with the very big added workload. I can not speak for the radar operators that afternoon/evening.

--Turtle

WESTFIELD/BARNES,MA (BAF) ASOS reports Tornado KBAF 012024Z 30005KT 1 1/4SM R20/4500VP6000FT FC +TSRA BKN024 BKN030 OVC065 26/22 A2984 RMK FUNNEL CLOUD B23 E24 AO2 LTG DSNT NW-E TSB1958RAB00 P0023

I thought I'd said everything that needed to be said in this thread. But this load of invective mischaracterizes a colleague...which is waaaaaaay past wrong.

Take a look at the observation, posted at the top. It reports a Funnel Cloud in progress, as noted by the initial underlined segment. Fine. It then states that the Funnel Cloud began at H+23 and ENDED at H+24. So which is it? Is the FC in progress, or has it ended? This is the question that faced us in Taunton when we saw this observation. Eleanor called BAF and asked them to correct the observation; if the FC had indeed ended, then it should not be in the weather/obstructions part of the observation. The tower decided that the Funnel Cloud had ended. The corrected observation was then sent. (Strange how that correction hasn't been shown.)

Let us not neglect the whole chronology up to that storm:

252pm Tornado Warning issued for Cheshire County ... subsequent ground truth ... several reports of large hail

309 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for several segements of NW MA ... subsequent ground truth ... two reports of straight line wind, more reports of large hail

324 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for parts of Cheshire and Hillsborough .. subsquent ground truth ... reports of large hail

328 pm Tornado Warning issued for parts of Franklin-Hampshire-Hampden ... subsequent ground truth ... reports of large hail

332 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for parts of Worcester-Middlesex-Cheshire ... subsequent ground truth ... Nothing!

405 pm Tornado Warning issued for parts of 4 counties around Quabbin ... subsequent ground truth ... Large hail, one report of wind damage in Hadley at 415 pm.

And then there were...

418 pm Severe Tstm Warning issued for parts of several counties including Springfield-Holyoke-Westfield. This warning included a statement to the effect that a tornado was possible.

430 pm Tornado Warning issued for Springfield, et al. We all now know what happened.

It is now June 21st, and time for everyone to move on.

This is my final statement on this thread.

These are all from the thread last year on the issue at hand. I pulled the most relevant, tried to keep it to red taggers from taunton or who were chiming in with special knowledge of the process, RF, etc.