F0 tornado, Brunswick, Maine, November 24, 2005

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

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

3. F2113 to 157 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. F3158 to 206 mph

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

5. F4207 to 260 mph

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

6. F5261 to 318 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

F0

Date

November 24, 2005

Touchdown

1:16 PM EST (18:16 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1,000

County

Cumberland County

Touchdown point

43.900, -69.970

Lift-off point

43.900, -69.970

Record number

1257

A pair of waterspouts/tornadoes moved northward from the Gulf of Maine during the early afternoon of Thanksgiving Day. Earlier on that day, light snow had been falling across the area. The waterspouts/tornadoes formed along a warm frontal boundary that was associated with an area of low pressure which was bringing snow to much of the state. The first waterspout/tornado moved ashore over the southern tip of the Phippsburg peninsula near Bald Head, crossed Small Point, moved over The Branch, went ashore again on Hermit Island, lifted, reformed over Tottman Cove, then went ashore once again near West Point, and then caused sporadic damage along Holland Road. Numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted throughout the area by the tornado, especially in the area near Small Point. In addition, several homes near Small Point were blown off their foundations and significantly damaged. The second tornado/waterspout reportedly touched down as a waterspout south of Brunswick in Middle Bay, then moved ashore near the northern end of Mere Point Neck, moved back over water at the northern end of Maquoit Bay, then moved back over land and crossed Bunganug Road before dissipating. Damage to the area was mostly snapped or uprooted trees, although one camper cover was torn and lifted by the tornado, and landed about a mile away in the top of a tall tree.

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.

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 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.

Brunswick Nas (NHZ), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Portland,ME radar (KGYX), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:13 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 2005 tornado in MaineEvery tornado in Maine since 1950Warnings in force in Maine nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.