EF1 Tornado — Hartford, Connecticut

2013-07-01 · near Poquonock, Hartford, Connecticut

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado touched down on Hayden Station Road in Windsor and continued moving northeastward through portions of Windsor Locks and across the Connecticut River, ending in the 200 block of Main Street in East Windsor.

The roof was blown off a warehouse on Hayden Station Road in Windsor. Numerous trees were downed near Raymond Road and Alicia Terrace, including some that were downed onto cars and houses. Shingles were blown off houses on Preston Road and Gaylord Road. As the tornado traveled northeastward, tobacco tents were ripped off the tobacco fields and some tobacco was flattened. This can be seen from Interstate 91. Several eyewitnesses reported debris being lofted into the air and noise that sounded like a freight train as the tornado moved through. While much of the damage was rated EF-0, there were several small areas of EF-1 damage. EF-1 damage included a sports bubble collapsing at Sports World in East Windsor and blowing onto Interstate 91, blocking two lanes on the southbound side. Additionally, reports were received of a semi truck that was blown over on Interstate 91 south at exit 44 in East Windsor.

Wider weather episode

A series of shortwaves moved along a stationary boundary to the west of Southern New England, igniting showers and thunderstorms. An atmosphere characterized by low CAPE and decent deep layer shear resulted in showers and thunderstorms producing heavy rain and rotating thunderstorms. One of these storms produced two short-lived tornadoes. The first was an EF-1 in the Windsor Locks area of Hartford County and the second was an EF-0 in Enfield, CT.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.9000, -72.6500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 461537. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.