New Hampshire, 2006

Tornado in New Hampshire, May 21, 2006

May 21, 2006 · NWS GYX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A small, but rather intense, tornado touched down on Interstate 95 about two miles south of the Hampton Toll Booths in the town of Hampton Falls. While several funnel clouds were observed over southeastern New Hampshire that Sunday evening, the actual tornado touched down just as one of the funnel clouds approached I-95.

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
2
Property damage
$3,000
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 GYX wrote it up.

A small, but rather intense, tornado touched down on Interstate 95 about two miles south of the Hampton Toll Booths in the town of Hampton Falls. While several funnel clouds were observed over southeastern New Hampshire that Sunday evening, the actual tornado touched down just as one of the funnel clouds approached I-95. The tornado then lifted off the ground about 100 yards after crossing I-95. The most significant damage was to a truck parked along the side of the highway. The trucked was lifted off the ground briefly by the tornado, thrown about 10 feet, landed on the passenger side, and then rolled 1 1/4 times ending up on its roof. Two men were in the truck at the time and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. After interviews with the occupants and eyewitness reports which indicated that the vehicle was lifted into the air, the tornado intensity was classified as F2 on the Fujita scale. These reports were consistent with the ground-based assessment.

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:45 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Rockingham

When
May 21, 4:45 PM EST to 4:46 PM EST
Where
Rockingham County, Hampton Falls
Rating
F2
Path length
0.1 mi
Path width
20 yd
Injuries
2 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$3,000
Reported by
NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates
42.917, -70.850

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Hampshire in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New Hampshire, 2006Warnings in New Hampshire, May 2006

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5509457.