EF1 tornado in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

A brief and narrow tornado occurred in West Yarmouth and was on the ground at the very same time as another tornado was moving toward South Yarmouth!

The tornado touched down on Yacht Avenue and Schooner Street in West Yarmouth and traveled east approximately one-quarter mile before lifting on Egg Harbor Road, just after Pine Cone Drive. The path width was approximately 50 yards. Numerous pine trees were snapped near their bases. Tree tops appeared twisted. Residents reported seeing swirling motion. NWS Doppler Radar showed a tornado debris signature with this storm, indicating that some trees and branches were lofted into the air. This tornado was only on the ground for one minute, between noon and 1201 PM EDT (1100 and 1101 AM EST). It lifted as it approached the south end of the Bass River.

Although a brief and very shallow waterspout was observed over the southern part of the Bass River, the damage in West Dennis just to the east of Wrinkle Point was considered to be from strong straight line downburst winds.

A deep southerly flow of tropical moisture was in place over southeast MA with precipitable water values in excess of 2 inches on the south coast. A frontal wave along the coast provided strong low level convergence and that combined with upper divergence from the right entrance region of a 110 knot upper level jet to produce very severe weather for Cape Cod. Three tornadoes occurred! Prior to these, there had only been three recorded tornadoes since 1950. Outside of the tornado area, damage surveys showed that strong microburst winds caused straight-line damage.