EF1 tornado, Hyannis Port to East Harwich, Massachusetts, July 23, 2019

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

July 23, 2019

Touchdown

11:57 AM EDT (15:57 UTC)

Lifted

12:07 PM EDT (16:07 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

5.5 miles (8.9 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.2 million

County

Barnstable County

Touchdown point

41.635, -70.284

Lift-off point

41.677, -70.196

Record number

1907230957-01

A deep southerly flow of tropical moisture was in place over southeast MA with precipitable water values in excess of 2 inches on the south coast. A frontal wave along the coast provided strong low level convergence and that combined with upper divergence from the right entrance region of a 110 knot upper level jet to produce very severe weather for Cape Cod. Three tornadoes occurred! Prior to these, there had only been three recorded tornadoes since 1950. Outside of the tornado area, damage surveys showed that strong microburst winds caused straight-line damage.

A waterspout moved onshore just west of Kalmus Beach in Barnstable, MA at 1157 AM EDT (1057 AM EST). Winds gusted to 91 mph at a mesonet observation site at Kalmus. They had shifted from southeast to west-northwest with the passage of the tornado. The tornado continued moving northeastward at about 35 mph. The damage was discontinuous but where the tornado touched down, the damage was quite significant, with winds estimated as high as 110 mph. ||The roof of a motel on the south side of Main Street in West Yarmouth was completely peeled off. Additional significant tornado damage occurred just southwest of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, particularly along Hazelmoor Road from Violet Glen Road to Vine Brook Road. Dozens of large trees were uprooted and a few were snapped off. Another house had a hole in the roof from a fallen tree.||The tornado then lifted. However, severe straight-line wind damage was observed from West Dennis eastward to West Harwich. Numerous large trees were uprooted, consistent with 90 mph gusts or greater.||Amazingly, no injuries were reported with the storm. Cleanup of roads cost approximately $434,000 in Yarmouth. That does not count damage to homes or private claims.

A brief and narrow tornado occurred in West Yarmouth and was on the ground at the very same time as another tornado was moving toward South Yarmouth!||The tornado touched down on Yacht Avenue and Schooner Street in West Yarmouth and traveled east approximately one-quarter mile before lifting on Egg Harbor Road, just after Pine Cone Drive. The path width was approximately 50 yards. Numerous pine trees were snapped near their bases. Tree tops appeared twisted. Residents reported seeing swirling motion. NWS Doppler Radar showed a tornado debris signature with this storm, indicating that some trees and branches were lofted into the air. This tornado was only on the ground for one minute, between noon and 1201 PM EDT (1100 and 1101 AM EST). It lifted as it approached the south end of the Bass River.||Although a brief and very shallow waterspout was observed over the southern part of the Bass River, the damage in West Dennis just to the east of Wrinkle Point was considered to be from strong straight line downburst winds.

The same supercell storm that produced the Barnstable-Yarmouth tornado went on to touch down again near the center of Harwich, MA at 1210 PM EDT (1110 AM EST). The initial touchdown was just east of Harwich Elementary School, just south of Parallel Street. It moved northeast through Harwich Center, passing just south of a golf course, and lifted in East Harwich in the Vicinity of Queen Anne Road. At least 150 hardwood trees were either uprooted or snapped. A few homes also had shingles that were ripped off. Wind gusts were estimated as high as 110 mph, which is on the high end of the Enhanced Fujita EF-1 ranking. Harwich spent $1.2 million on cleanup of roads. That figure is estimated to be one-third of the total costs, when individual homeowner claims are taken into account.||The tornado then lifted. However, severe straight-line wind damage was observed in Chatham. Numerous large trees were uprooted, consistent with 90 mph gusts or greater.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS BOX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:39 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:15 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 12:32 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), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:00 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 2019 tornado in MassachusettsEvery tornado in Massachusetts since 1950Warnings in force in Massachusetts nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.