Hail and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, June 30, 2001

Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, June 30, 2001
Start: 2001-06-30T15:29
End: 2001-06-30T18:56
Location: Massachusetts

June 30, 2001 · NWS ALY · 7 events in 1 county or zone

A weak trough rippling through a very unstable air mass, touched off a round of thunderstorms in Berkshire County during the afternoon of June 30. Some of the storms became strong to locally severe.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $71,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

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 ALY wrote it up.

A weak trough rippling through a very unstable air mass, touched off a round of thunderstorms in Berkshire County during the afternoon of June 30. Some of the storms became strong to locally severe. Dime-size hail was reported at North Adams and Lee, while nickel-size hail fell at West Becket. Thunderstorm winds brought trees down in Sheffield, Lanesborough, Pittsfield and Lenox.

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 Albany, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 30, 1:15 PM EST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 30, 1:15 PM EST, 2 hours 14 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
215 PM EDT SAT JUN 30 2001

SCT CONVECTION RIGHT ABT ON CUE...MAINLY W OF HDSVLY AND A BKN LN
K1V4-KSYR. ETA KEEPS SEVERAL HND CAPES OVR DIST DURG NGT...RCHG
A CREST IN THE 1500-2000 J/KG BALLPARK WITH FROPA SUN. GEM/ETA/NGM/
AVN RUN ALL SEEM TO BE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT ON PROGGED POSITION
OF STG CDFNT SOMEWHERE INVOF KPSM-KHPN-KPHL COORIDOR AT 00Z MON.
SHOULD YANK FNT THRU DIST RIGHT ARND TIME OF MAX HEATING. APPEARS
UPR SUPPORT IS SUFFICIENTLY IN TRAIL SUCH THAT SOME CONVECTION MAY
CONT INTO THE EVNG...HOWEVER POST-FNTL DRY INTRUSION APT TO LIMIT
QPF IN NW FLOW ENVIRONMENT. THEREAFTER...NGM JUMPS SLGTLY AHEAD OF
THE PACK BY 12Z MON ACRS NC...BUT BY THEN NO LONGER A FACTOR. BY 00Z
TUE...SFC RDG POSITIONED ERN VA-LWR GRTLKS. BY WED...MID-LVL ASSUMES
CYC CURVATURE AND REINFORCING SHOT OF COOL AIR /SHOULD THIS READ
CLIPPER/ ARRIVES FOR WED NGT INTO SMALL HOURS OF THU WITH PCPN AT
LEAST A COUPLE HND MILES IN ADVANCE. POLAR VORTEX AT H2.5 ROLLS INTO
WRN QUE BY THU.  MCKINLEY/GJM

.ALY...NY ERN/VT EXTRM SRN/MA EXTRM WRN/CT NW...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 30, 10:55 AM EST, 4 hours 34 minutes before

CTZ001-MAZ001-NYZ032-033-038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-VTZ013-014-
010000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
1155 AM EDT SAT JUN 30 2001

...THERE IS THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY AFTERNOON...

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS EASTERN NEW YORK AND WESTERN
NEW ENGLAND SUNDAY AFTERNOON.  THIS COLD FRONT WILL INTERACT WITH
THE VERY WARM AND HUMID AIR MASS THAT HAS BEEN OVER THE REGION FOR
THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS...AND A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS LIKELY TO
FORM ALONG OR JUST AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT.  THIS LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS WILL SWEEP RAPIDLY ACROSS THE REGION SUNDAY
AFTERNOON.

FORECAST ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOON LOOK FAVORABLE
FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...AND SOME OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY AFTERNOON COULD PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND
LARGE HAIL.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO FORM ACROSS EASTERN NEW YORK AND WESTERN NEW #
ENGLAND THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO BECOME
SEVERE IN TERMS OF WIND AND HAIL DAMAGE.  HOWEVER...THUNDERSTORMS
THIS AFTERNOON MAY CONTAIN DOWNPOURS.

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Berkshire

When: June 30, 3:29 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, Lee
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.317, -73.250

Hail, Berkshire

When: June 30, 3:38 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, West Becket
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.267, -73.133

Thunderstorm Wind, Berkshire

When: June 30, 6:21 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, Sheffield
Property damage: $27,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.100, -73.350

Hail, Berkshire

When: June 30, 6:33 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, North Adams
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.700, -73.100

Thunderstorm Wind, Berkshire

When: June 30, 6:44 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, Lanesborough
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.517, -73.217

Thunderstorm Wind, Berkshire

When: June 30, 6:56 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, Pittsfield
Property damage: $12,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.450, -73.250

Thunderstorm Wind, Berkshire

When: June 30, 6:56 PM EST
Where: Berkshire County, Lenox
Property damage: $17,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.367, -73.283

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Massachusetts in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Massachusetts, June 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: 5252523, 5252577, 5252578, 5252519, 5252520, 5252521, 5252522.