EF0 tornado in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Tornado August 8, 2023 · Barnstable County, Massachusetts

EF0

Rating

1.2 mi

Path length

650 yd

Path width

$2K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 650 yards (0.37 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

A small EF-0 tornado touched down in the town of Barnstable, near

the village of Marstons Mills, at 11:52 AM. The storm tracked ENE

from Evergreen Drive for approximately four minutes before

lifting over Joe Thompson Road, at approximately 11:56 AM. The

primary damage indicators were an uprooted hardwood tree and a

downed electrical pole, supplemented by strewn debris inclusive

of smaller trees, fence posts, and branches. The damage was most

concentrated near the center of the track at the intersection of

Race Lane and Osterville-West Barnstable Road. Witnesses described

a chaotic event, observing airborne fence posts and branches. Top wind speeds were estimated at 80 mph.

The wider storm

A trough moved from the eastern Great Lakes into the mid Atlantic then New England on Tuesday. Southern New England was in the warm sector of a weak low which provided enough instability for scattered thunderstorms Tuesday morning into early afternoon before the cold front moved through. There was an EF-1 tornado in Mattapoisett and an EF-0 tornado in Barnstable.

Began near Marstons Mills Arpt (41.6751, -70.3917).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Plymouth County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1119868. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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