Are these tornadoes in Massachusetts unusual? Not really
By Terry Eliasen, WBZ-TV Meteorologist, Executive Weather Producer
BOSTON - What's the deal with these tornadoes?
We have had two touch down in Massachusetts in the last two weeks!
While the rainfall totals have been nearing records, the two tornadoes are actually not all that rare this time of year. Massachusetts averages two tornadoes per year, most of them coming in the peak of summer.
While we didn't record any tornadoes in 2022, we had 6 in 2021, 3 each in 2021 and 2020 and 7 back in 2019!
The North Brookfield and Foxboro tornadoes were actually very "typical" New England-type twisters - short-lived, wrapped with rain, hard to see or capture on video, and relatively weak - EF-0 and EF-1.
Despite all the technological improvements in recent years, most of our tornadoes in New England remain hard to detect on Doppler radar. Many times, they form or "spin-up" so quickly, by the time the warning is issued, they may already have lifted, as was the case Saturday in Foxboro.
Thankfully, there were no injuries reported with either twister, but these events should serve as good reminders to heed local warnings and to seek shelter during tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings.