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EF1 tornado in Hartford County, Connecticut

Tornado July 1, 2013 · Hartford County, Connecticut

EF1
Rating
2.1 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
$5.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

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.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Poquonock (41.9000, -72.6500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 461537. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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