EF1 tornado, White Rock to Westerly, Connecticut, November 13, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF1

Date

November 13, 2021

Touchdown

3:54 PM CST (21:54 UTC)

Lifted

4:00 PM CST (22:00 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$64,000

Counties

Washington and Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region counties

Touchdown point

41.382, -71.836

Lift-off point

41.385, -71.833

Record number

2111131554-01

A fast-moving cold front combined with a potent short-wave trough lifting northeastward across western and northern New England to produce severe thunderstorms across southern New England. Despite dewpoint temperatures only in the 30s and 40s, the cold pool aloft created instability and there was very strong low-level helicity. The result was an unprecedented outbreak of tornadoes across Long Island, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Note... this is a continuation of a tornado that began in Stonington, CT (New London County). At approximately 4:54 PM EST on Saturday, November 13, a tornado touched down on Robinson Street in the Pawcatuck neighborhood of Stonington, CT. Several hardwood trees were uprooted or snapped about half way up the trunk. A gutter was ripped off of one home and shutters were ripped off of another home. Several trampolines were lifted, with one becoming stuck on a power line, approximately 20 feet in the air. In Stonington, where Robinson Street becomes Race Street, a metal shed was lifted and flipped before being crushed by a large maple branch, with an approximate diameter of 15 inches. Several street signs also were snapped at their bases. The tornado then continued on a northeast track into Westerly, RI, where it crossed Route 78 onto Center Street. Approximately 20 large, healthy hardwood trees were uprooted at that location. A wood outbuilding also was flipped onto its side. The tornado then crossed onto Millview Drive before lifting at approximately 5:00 PM EST. The basis for the EF1 rating was the metal shed that was flipped prior to being crushed, as well as the shearing of gutters and shutters off of homes. The maximum estimated wind associated with this tornado was 90 mph. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 0.25 miles in CT and 1.10 miles in RI.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:27 UTC and running to 22:19 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Boston radar (KBOX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:55 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in ConnecticutEvery tornado in Connecticut since 1950Warnings in force in Connecticut nowThe forecast where you are

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.