Gusty west winds downed trees, wires, and caused damage to several homes in Worcester, Middlesex, and coastal Essex counties, as a deep low pressure system moves through southern Canada. The damage was most widespread in Framingham, with more than a dozen reports of downed trees and wires throughout town.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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.
Gusty west winds downed trees, wires, and caused damage to several homes in Worcester, Middlesex, and coastal Essex counties, as a deep low pressure system moves through southern Canada. The damage was most widespread in Framingham, with more than a dozen reports of downed trees and wires throughout town. In Salem, winds gusted as high as 75 mph and blew out a window in a building at Salem State College. Damage was also reported in Natick, Southborough, Waltham, and Lunenburg. About 5,000 electric customers lost power because of the high winds. No injuries were reported.
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 3, 10:15 AM EST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION..UPDATED..
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1115 AM EDT FRI MAY 3 2002
...CAA AT H8 YIELDING MUCHO CU WESTERN SECTIONS SO WENT PC THOSE
LOCATIONS. WIND ADVY WILL CONT THRU THIS PKG. ALL ELSE LOOKS GUD...
...THIS MORNINGS 629 DISC...
...WIND ADVY WITH ISO HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA AND POSS HIGH WIND
WARNING ISSUANCES LATER THIS MORNING...
UPDATED ZFP E MA AND N RI FOR QUICK MOVING BRF SHWR TO WHIP THRU BY
8AM. GUSTS 32KT+ ACCOMPANY AND FOLLOW THIS.
NUMEROUS G42-44 KTS IN SYR-ALB-AQW CORRIDOR SINCE 06Z. ITS A START.
CONCERN IS FOR 60-65 MPH GUSTS BUT FOR NOW NO WARNING ISSUED SINCE
WE WERE NOT ABS SURE OF 60 MPH GUSTS AND FCST THE MOST PROBABLE
SCENARIO.
ETA CONSISTENT IN ALL ITS FOUS CYCLES BEGINNING 54 HRS AGO FOR THIS
AFTN AND EVENT WAS HANDED DOWN FROM THIS PAST MON/TUES AVN/UK/EC
WHICH INDICATED WIND A POTENTIAL PBLM FOR TODAY.
ETA AWIPS SFC WIND FCST IS AT WIND ADVY CRITERIA IN MONADS AND REST
OF REGION TRANSFER CUD EXTEND UP AS HIGH AS 750 MB AT TIMES THIS AFTN
WHICH WAS INDICATED IN YDYS ETA MODEL RICHARDSON NUMBERS. THE NCEP
EXP WIND PRODUCT IS VASTLY UNDERDONE IN THIS SITN. TONIGHT THERE IS
NO EXP WIND DATA FROM THE 00Z AND 06Z/3 ETA RUNS.
00Z/3 ETA SFC WIND FCST IS ARD 24KT AT MHT AND 20 KT AFN THIS AFTN
WITH ABT 26KT AT BOS..27 KT AT ORH AND 25 KT AT BID. THIS WILL B ONE
OF THE MORE WIDESPREAD ASOS VERIFIED WIND EVENTS OF RECENT MONTHS AND
BLV THERE WILL B POCKETS OF DAMAGING WIND...TYPICALLY THIS IS CT RVR
VLY AND VCNTY ORH...MQE. ALSO THINK THERE WILL B ISO POCKETS OF
DAMAGING WIND MERR RVR VLY AND VCNTY BOS.
PVC AND ACK AND BID MAY NOT VERIFY WHERE NEARBY COOLER SST LIMITS LOW
LVL LAPSE RATES? BUT ADVY ISSUED THERE AS WELL.
FIRE WEATHER: CONDS FOR RED FLAG WITH RH <30 PCT AND WIND WELL ABV
CRITERIA BUT RFALL YDY MAY LIMIT FIRE DANGER ENOUGH
TO PREVENT A PBLM...STILL FUELS WILL DRY VERY RAPIDLY
TDY AND CARELESS DISPOSAL OF BURNING MATERIALS OR
ANY DOWNED LIVE POWERLINES WILL EASILY SPARK FIRES.
GFE/ZFP LOADED WITH SHWRS LATE MON THRU THU NIGHT BUT AMTS SHUD NOT
BE ALL THAT MUCH AND MOST OF THE TIME SHUD B RAINFREE. TIMING OF
SHWRS AND POSIT OF FRONTAL BOUNDARY STILL HIGHLY UNCERTAIN DESPITE
YDYS MRF ENSEMBLES. OP RUNS FROM THIS MORNINGS MRF AND UK AS WELL
AS THE 12Z/2 EC ALL DIFFER IN SOME RESPECTS. RIGHT NOW 00Z/MRF ENS
PAINT TUE NIGHT AS THE BEST CHC FOR MEAS IN SNE.
A WARMER THAN NORMAL REGIME DEVELOPING THIS COMING WEEK AS AN
IMPRESSIVE GULF COAST RDG HOLDS STRONG. MRF 00Z/3 ENS NOW SHOWING
BEST SHOT AT 80+ ON THURSDAY BUT EC SAYS TUESDAY.
HAVE MY DOUBTS ABT THE MRF FCST FOR FRIDAY...CUD BE A DAY PREMATURE
...THIS BASED ON YDYS MRF ENSEMBLES. HAVE TO FIGURE ONE OF THE DAYS
THIS COMING WORK WEEK HAS TO HIT 80+.
MRF ENS FROM 5/2 SHOWED MOTHERS DAY STRONGLY FAVORING DRY AND NICE
HERE IN SNE SO WILL B INTERESTING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
NWS/RI-SE MA MEDIA WX COMMUNICATORS (PRINT/RADIO-TV) WORKSHOP 5/8
SHUD RSVP TO THIS AUTHOR.
.BOX...
CT...NPW FOR WIND ADVY 13Z-23Z TDY.
MA...NPW FOR WIND ADVY 13Z-23Z TDY.
NH...NPW FOR WIND ADVY 13Z-23Z TDY.
RI...NPW FOR WIND ADVY 13Z-23Z TDY.
MARINE...GALE ALL WATERS.
DRAGBOSLSRBOS DEF
TTAA00 KBOS DDHHMM
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1035 AM EDT FRI MAY 03 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1030 AM PHILLIPSTON MA NON TSTM WINDS
05/03/02 MIDDLESEX 1 70 FT TREE DOWN
BLOCKED RTE 2AThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Massachusetts in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Massachusetts, May 2002
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: 5294731, 5294732, 5294733, 5294734, 5294735.