Severe thunderstorms brought damaging winds and hail to much of central and eastern Massachusetts. As the storms moved through Middlesex County, lightning struck and killed a 15-year old boy in Westford, as he was doing yardwork.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
The episode as NWS BOX wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorms brought damaging winds and hail to much of central and eastern Massachusetts. As the storms moved through Middlesex County, lightning struck and killed a 15-year old boy in Westford, as he was doing yardwork. In Hopkinton, three 8-year old children were slightly injured when lightning hit a tree directly over them, sending pieces of bark into the air. Trees and wires were downed in Lincoln and Woburn. In Essex County, trees were reported down in Georgetown and Wenham, and one tree blocked a portion of Route 97. The storms then headed into the Boston metro area and South Shore, downing wires in Dorchester and dropping hail the size of quarters in Quincy. Dime size hail was reported in Bellingham, Hull, West Bridgewater, and at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Taunton. Trees, limbs, and wires were downed in Hull, Quincy, and Whitman. Another severe thunderstorm produced dime size hail in Uxbridge.
The Boston radar (KBOX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:17 UTC.
7 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Middlesex | 2000-06-27 | 15 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Massachusetts in 2000Every state in 2000This day in weather historyWarnings in Massachusetts, June 2000
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: 5150338, 5150241, 5150242, 5150243, 5150244, 5150245, 5150246, 5150247, 5150248, 5150249, 5150334, 5150335, 5150336, 5150337.