Waterspout — Block Island Sound, Atlantic North

2012-08-10 · near Block Island Airport, Block Island Sound, Atlantic North

Event narrative

The Block Island Times reported a tornadic waterspout moved onshore Block Island, RI at 3:54pm. Backtracking the rotation over the water we determined the location the waterspout would have likely formed. The tornado onshore was rated an EF0.

Wider weather episode

A series of upper level disturbances rotated around a vertically stacked low pressure system in the Great Lakes. These provided a focus for showers and thunderstorms to develop across southern New England. Southerly winds drew tropical moisture over the area, resulting in very heavy rain in showers and thunderstorms that developed. In addition, strong winds in the upper levels and 30-40 knots of deep layer shear resulted in wind damage with the strongest of these storms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.9927, -71.6031)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 408655. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.