F1 tornado, Leeds, Massachusetts, June 2, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

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

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   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

F1

Date

June 2, 2000

Touchdown

5:00 PM EDT (21:00 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

10 yards (9 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hampshire County

Touchdown point

42.350, -72.700

Lift-off point

42.350, -72.700

Record number

311

Severe thunderstorms moved through much of the Bay State in advance of a strong cold front, causing widespread damage. The storms began in western Massachusetts during the late afternoon, with numerous reports of downed trees, wires, and large hail in Hampshire and Hampden Counties. Hail as large as golf balls was reported in Granby.Northampton received the brunt of the storm damage, where a brief tornado and microburst caused extensive damage and one injury. The tornado, rated F1 on the Fujita Scale with winds of 73 to 112 mph, touched down very briefly at 5 pm EDT in the higher elevations in Leeds, in the northwest section of Northampton. A few minutes later, the same tornado briefly touched down again near Bridge Road in the Pine Brook Farm portion of Northampton. The initial touchdown was only 15 yards wide at its maximum, about one half mile long, and lasted only one minute. It began near Kennedy Road, just to the west of the southern portion of Roberts Meadow Reservoir. It ended on the east side of the reservoir at Reservoir Road. Convergent tree damage was noted in these areas. The majority of the damage from this severe thunderstorm occurred from a very powerful microburst, with estimated winds between 90 and 105 mph, which affected the section of Northampton around Pine Brook Curve, Emily Lane, and Hatfield Street. Straight line wind damage was observed in this area, with large trees snapped in the middle, and in some cases at their bases. Four homes were declared uninhabitable due to large trees which had fell upon them. Hundreds of trees were downed as well as power lines. Hail, ranging in size from quarter to golf ball, accompanied this storm. Amazingly, only one minor injury occurred. A man was struck by a tree which fell into his kitchen, but was spared by his refrigerator, which acted as a shield according to several accounts.In central and eastern Massachusetts, thunderstorm winds downed trees, branches, and power lines throughout many communities in Worcester, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Plymouth Counties. Dime to nickel size hail also accompanied the storms. At Logan International Airport in Boston, a wind gust to 62 mph was reported.About 15,000 electric customers lost power during the storms as they moved through Massachusetts.

Brief touchdown in Leeds and Pine Brook Farm sections of Northampton

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS BOX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:41 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:09 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 Albany radar (KENX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:57 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in MassachusettsEvery tornado in Massachusetts since 1950Warnings in force in Massachusetts nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.