Tornadoes · United States · Maine · 2006
F1 tornado, North Berwick, Maine, September 29, 2006
This F1 tornado ran 1.5 miles across York County on September 29, 2006, touching down at 2:54 PM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $120,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- September 29, 2006
- Touchdown
- 2:54 PM EDT (18:54 UTC)
- Path length
- 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
- Path width
- 200 yards (183 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $120,000
- County
- York County
- Touchdown point
- 43.300, -70.750
- Lift-off point
- 43.300, -70.750
- Record number
- 942
What the Weather Service recorded
An F1 tornado touched down south of Route 9 between North Berwick and Berwick and then traveled across Route 9 and into the town of North Berwick. In North Berwick, it crossed Route 4, then lifted off the ground.A continuous path of damage was observed for about a mile and a half from the initial point of touch down to where the tornado lifted off the ground. The maximum path width was estimated to be about two hundred yards. The tornado was classified as a strong F1 tornado on the Fujita Scale with maximum wind speeds estimated to have been between 100 and 110 mph near the initial point of touch down.The tornado knocked over numerous trees and damaged about 40 buildings. In addition, some of the snapped or uprooted trees damaged or destroyed vehicles.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:16 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 surface observations
Sanford Municipal (Awos) (SFM), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:55 UTC | 60.8 | 57.2 | 190° 5 kt | 1003.7 | ||
| 17:15 UTC | 60.8 | 59 | 140° 4 kt | 1002.7 | ||
| 17:35 UTC | 62.6 | 59 | 180° 4 kt | 1002.7 | ||
| 17:55 UTC | 62.6 | 59 | 180° 6 kt | 1002.7 | ||
| 18:15 UTC | 62.6 | 59 | 190° 3 kt | 1002 | ||
| 18:35 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 170° 5 kt | 1001.4 | ||
| 18:55 UTC | 62.6 | 59 | 200° 10 kt | 16 | 1001.7 | VCTS |
| 19:15 UTC | 59 | 53.6 | 270° 15 kt | 21 | 1002.4 | VCTS |
| 19:35 UTC | 57.2 | 51.8 | 270° 17 kt | 23 | 1003.4 | |
| 19:55 UTC | 57.2 | 48.2 | 270° 12 kt | 22 | 1003.7 | |
| 20:15 UTC | 57.2 | 46.4 | 270° 11 kt | 15 | 1004.1 | |
| 20:35 UTC | 57.2 | 46.4 | 260° 11 kt | 19 | 1005.1 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Portland,ME radar (KGYX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:54 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:54 UTC | TORNADO | North Berwick | York, ME | F1 TORNADO SNAPPED OR UPROOTED HUNDREDS OF TREES AND DAMAGED HOMES, BUILDINGS, AND VEHICLES. |
| 19:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | North Berwick | York, ME | TREES AND WIRES DOWNED WITH 12 HOMES DAMAGED. FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in MaineEvery tornado in Maine since 1950Warnings in force in Maine nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of September 29, 2006
1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 29 | 2:37 AM EDT | F0 | Carroll, NH | 0.4 | 40 |
What this means
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.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.