EF1 tornado, Glocester to (Sfz)Pawtucket St Ar, Rhode Island, September 13, 2023

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

September 13, 2023

Touchdown

4:20 PM EDT (20:20 UTC)

Lifted

4:28 PM EDT (20:28 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

70 yards (64 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Providence County

Touchdown point

41.859, -71.674

Lift-off point

41.861, -71.671

Record number

2309131420-01

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BOX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A frontal system brought a period of heavy rain, flash flooding, and embedded thunderstorms to southern New England from the morning to mid evening. In addition to much tree damage from straight line winds, there was one tornado in Connecticut, 2 in Rhode Island, and 1 in Massachusetts. These all occurred in the afternoon.

An EF-1 with maximum winds of 100 mph began in a wooded area|between Chopmist Hill Road (Route 102) and Bungy Road in the town|of Glocester, RI here the tornado either snapped or uprooted an|estimated 75 or more, healthy and mature trees. The tornado moved|northeast and crossed Bungy Road before dissipating over an open|field. Most notable, a small outbuilding, used as bus stop shelter|was blown away by the tornado with remnants littered west of the|original location. Some pieces were found an a neighbors roof.|This damage and the tree damage along the path was consistent |with wind speeds between 90 and 100 mph, resulting an EF-1 rating |on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

An EF-1 with maximum winds of 100 mph began east of North Central|State Airport along Wellington Road in the town of Lincoln, RI. A|video did show a funnel cloud passing over the adjacent airport|but found no damage. The tornado uprooted a large tree and damaged|am estimated 20' by 30' section of roof on a building across the|street and due north of the uprooted tree. Video provided by|Lincoln Animal Control showed a thin tornado passing at the end of|the facility's driveway and twisting a large branch from a tree.|The tornado moved northeast into a field of solar panels which|uplifted two sections. From here, the tornado likely lifted before|moving across Route 146 at Route 116 which was documented on a DOT|camera. This damage and the tree damage along the path was |consistent with wind speeds between 90 and 100 mph, resulting an |EF-1 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS BOX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:09 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Pawtucket (Awos) (SFZ), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Boston radar (KBOX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:20 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 2023 tornado in Rhode IslandEvery tornado in Rhode Island since 1950Warnings in force in Rhode Island 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.