Excessive Heat in Massachusetts, May 2, 2001

Name: Excessive Heat in Massachusetts, May 2, 2001
Start: 2001-05-02T00:00
End: 2001-05-02T23:59
Location: Massachusetts

May 2, 2001 · NWS BOX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The high temperature of 87 degrees at Worcester Regional Airport broke the previous record high for the date, which was 86 degrees, set in 1930.

Where it happened

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.

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: None recorded
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.

The high temperature of 87 degrees at Worcester Regional Airport broke the previous record high for the date, which was 86 degrees, set in 1930.

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 May 1, 8:54 PM EST, 3 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 8:54 PM EST, 3 hours 6 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
954 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 2001

.DISC...
CURRENT FCST ON TRACK WITH ONLY A FEW MINOR TWEAKS FORTHCOMING IN
UPDATED PCKG. FIRST...WL CONT TREND OF DAYSHIFT OF LWRG MINS OVRNGT
AS MNLY CLR SKIES AND DECOUPLED ATM LEADING TO TEMPS FALLING AT A
GD RATE THIS EVENING. TEMP HERE AT THE OFFICE DWN ABT 25 DEG FM AFTN
HI OF 87. THINKING OVRNGT MINS WL APPROACH CURRENT DEW PT VALUES.

FCST HI TEMPS FOR WED FM EARLIER SHIFT LK GD AND THESE NUMBERS
PLACE MANY LOCATIONS WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF RCD HIGHS. THUS WL
INCL THIS LANGUAGE IN ZNS. IN ADDITION...WL ADD MUCH COOLER WORDING
TO SAT FCST AS TEMPS EXPECTED TO BE ABT 20-25 DEGS COOLER WITH
FROPA.

.HYDRO...
CANCELLED THE FLD WRNG ON EARLIER UPDATE FOR THE CT RVR AS THE 19Z OB
FM MIDDLETOWN IS NOW AT 7.98 FT...WHICH IS BELOW FLD STAGE. EXPECT
THE RVR TO CONTINUE TO RADIPLY RECEDE AS LIMITED SNOWCOVER UPSTREAM
CONTINUES TO DIMINISH ALNG WITH DRY WX TO LAST THRU THU.

.FIRE WX...
NEARING RED FLAG CONDITIONS AGAIN WED AS DRY WX COMBINES WITH THE
LACK OF GREEN VEGETATION.  ONLY ELEMENT MISSING FOR TRUE RED FLAG
CONDITIONS ARE HIER WINDS. NEVERTHELESS...CAUTION NEEDED THROUGH
THU AND PSSBLY INTO FRI.

.BOX...NONE.

NOCERA

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Excessive Heat, Southern Worcester

When: May 2, 12:00 AM EST to 11:59 PM EST
Where: Southern Worcester forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.351, -71.908 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Excessive Heat: Heat at or above the local excessive heat warning criteria, or heat that caused deaths.

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, May 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: 5243181.