Tornado, Franklin
- When
- July 3, 5:58 PM EST to 6:07 PM EST
- Where
- Franklin County, Charlemont to Colrain
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 8.5 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Coordinates
- 42.630, -72.880
Tornado in Massachusetts, July 3, 1997
A tornado touched down in the eastern part of Charlemont and travelled east causing damage to a campground. Fifteen trailers were damaged from falling trees and flying debris.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS BOX wrote it up.
A tornado touched down in the eastern part of Charlemont and travelled east causing damage to a campground. Fifteen trailers were damaged from falling trees and flying debris. Two of the trailers were severely damaged and one was destroyed with seven trees falling on top of it. Eyewitnesses reported rotation in the clouds and debris. The tornado then moved through the higher terrain of the Catamount State Forest. The path was discontinuous and ranged in width from 50 to 100 yards. The tornado path ended in the Copeland Hills section of Colrain. There were no direct injuries reported.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in New York, July 3, 1997
- Tornadoes and Hail in Massachusetts, July 3, 1997
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in New Hampshire, July 3, 1997
- Heat in Florida, July 3, 1997
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Kansas, July 3 to 21, 1997
- Hail in Missouri, July 3, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Vermont, July 3, 1997
- Tornado in Massachusetts, July 3, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, July 3, 1997
- Damaging Winds in New York, July 3, 1997
- Hail in Missouri, July 3, 1997
- Hail in Missouri, July 3, 1997
More
Every storm in Massachusetts in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Massachusetts, 1997Warnings in Massachusetts, July 1997
Sources
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: 5613840.