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EF0 tornado in Norfolk County, Massachusetts

Tornado July 29, 2023 · Norfolk County, Massachusetts

EF0
Rating
0.2 mi
Path length
25 yd
Path width
$5K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Tornado confirmed to have touched down in a small neighborhood in

Foxboro near the Mansfield town line very close to the town of Easton.

Several locations on a west to east path in the neighborhood had several

large trees up to 2 feet in diameter snapped at the trunk.

Observed tree damage had a convergent pattern consistent with

violently rotating winds. No major damage to homes was observed,

but one chimney appeared to have been knocked over by a fallen

tree. Path width was estimated to be around 25 yards. Path length

of the surveyed damage points was just shy of 300 yards. Per

radar data, a velocity couplet was over the surveyed neighborhood

for only a minute or two before continuing east over conservation

land. It is possible that the tornado was on the ground for

longer, but surveyors were unable to access conservation land

east of the last surveyed damage point. Additional significant

tree damage was found east of aforementioned conservation land in Easton,

but patterns were more consistent with west to east straight line winds.

This is also consistent with archived KBOX radar which displayed strong

outbound (west to east) velocities over this area.

The wider storm

A shortwave disturbance and potent cold front brought multiple rounds of thunderstorms to Massachusetts in the afternoon and evening including a tornado in the Foxboro area. Flash flooding was also an issue with many cars becoming stuck in water and many closed roads.

Began near East Foxboro (42.0538, -71.1918).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1115527. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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