5 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
5 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
There were numerous reports of trees and wires down, resulting in power outages.
An early morning thunderstorm with unusually frequent cloud to ground lightning moved eastward across the western suburbs of Boston and then directly across the city. In Weston and Newton, several trees and power lines were knocked down by strong winds. Lightning strikes blew out transformers and knocked out power to an estimated 20,000 customers from Sudbury to Boston. Small hail was reported by the National Weather Service at Logan International Airport in Boston. The Boston Fire Department reported its busiest two hours on record as lightning strikes cut off power, triggered alarm systems and heavy rain flooded roads. Lightning detection systems recorded around 20 cloud to ground strikes per minute or around 1,200 strikes per hour, continuing for more than an hour.
Trees were blown down near Rutledge/Granite/Loxwood Streets and insulation was torn from the roof of an apartment building and blown several hundred yards away. A microburst associated with a severe thunderstorm likely caused this damage.
Seventy-five to 100 trees were reported blown down and 50 to 60 telephone poles were knocked down, per local police.
Local police reported numerous trees blown down. At the Beverly Airport, a wind gust to an estimated 70 to 75 mph occurred during a severe thunderstorm, flipping over several light aircraft and damaging a total of 14 aircraft. Five were damaged beyond repair.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Massachusetts in 1994Every state in 1994This day in weather historyWarnings in Massachusetts, August 1994
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10329555, 10329158, 10329418, 10329645, 10329646.