EF0 tornado, La Fayette to North Kingstown, Rhode Island, November 13, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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

EF0

Date

November 13, 2021

Touchdown

5:18 PM EST (22:18 UTC)

Lifted

5:24 PM EST (22:24 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Washington County

Touchdown point

41.566, -71.481

Lift-off point

41.588, -71.459

Record number

2111131618-01

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.

At approximately 518 PM EST, a tornado touched down just southwest of Dillon Avenue in North Kingstown. Several large, healthy hardwood trees were uprooted or snapped, while a few standing trees were sheared at their tops. The tornado then crossed over Route 102 onto Himes Street. In addition to numerous downed hardwood trees on Himes Street, approximately four to five power poles were snapped in half and a fallen tree caused window and roof damage to a home. The tornado then continued to track northeast toward Juniper Drive, where large branches (diameter approximately 15 inches) were downed across the neighborhood. Smaller downed branches were also visible along Route 1 as the tornado moved northeast. At approximately 524 PM EST, the tornado lifted over Hopedale Avenue in Wickford. The EF0 rating, with maximum estimated wind speeds of 80 mph, was based on several uprooted or snapped hardwood trees and minor shearing of tree tops on a few standing trees. No major structural damage was observed, aside from the building on Himes Street, which was caused by a downed tree.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS BOX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:08 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:32 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:28 UTC and running to 23:34 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.

N. Kingston/Quonset (OQU), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Boston radar (KBOX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:18 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 Rhode IslandEvery tornado in Rhode Island since 1950Warnings in force in Rhode Island 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.