Name: Hail and Lightning Strikes in Massachusetts, August 3, 2001
Start: 2001-08-03T16:00
End: 2001-08-03T20:00
Location: Massachusetts

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.5 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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 severe thunderstorm produced nickel-sized hail in Petersham. Other thunderstorms with frequent lightning knocked out power to about 50,000 electric customers in the Bay State, primarily in Franklin, Hampshire, and Suffolk Counties. Lightning sparked a fire that destroyed the Boston Tea Party gift shop, resulting in an estimated 1.5 million dollars in damage.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Boston/Norton, MA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 2:15 PM EST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 2:15 PM EST, 1 hour 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
315 PM EDT FRI AUG 3 2001

SFC FRONT WILL GRAD MOVE ACROSS FA TNGT THRU SAT EVE.  HI PW VALUES
AND WEAK WAVE ALONG FRONT WILL ENHANCE POT FOR SOME HVY RAINFALL
TNGT.  WILL KEEP HI CHC POPS FOR SCT CONVECTION TNGT INTO SAT ALL
ZNS.  WILL INCLUDE CHC POPS SAT EVE SE HALF OF FA...AND ALL NIGHT
SAT NIGHT S COAST IN VICINITY OF FRNT.

DRIER ATMOS RETURNS SAT NIGHT NRN ZNS AND SUN ALL AREAS.  SW FLOW
BRINGS HEAT BACK INTO FA MON AND TUE...H8 TEMPS 16-18C AGAIN.  NEXT
SFC FRONT MOVES THRU TUE AFTERNOON BUT DRY.

WINDS HAVE BEEN SLOW TO DIMINISH S COAST SO WILL KEEP SCA HEADLINE
FOR EARLY TNGT S COAST.

.BOX...SCA ANZ232>235-237-254>255.

FRANKLIN/NOCERA/BELK

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 lightning, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Worcester

When: August 3, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Worcester County, Petersham
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.483, -72.183

Lightning, Franklin

When: August 3, 4:05 PM EST
Where: Franklin County, New Salem
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.583, -72.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning, Hampshire

When: August 3, 4:15 PM EST
Where: Hampshire County, Easthampton
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.340, -72.664 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning, Suffolk

When: August 3, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Suffolk County, Boston
Property damage: $1.5 million
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.356, -71.066 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Massachusetts in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Massachusetts, August 2001

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: 5264666, 5264669, 5264668, 5264667.