Rare Tornado Strikes Cape Cod, Massachusetts!

Written by Team Morecast

 

For just the fourth time in the past seven decades, a destructive tornado rolled over portions of Cape Cod in southeast Massachusetts. Multiple tornado touchdowns were confirmed by the National Weather Service survey team in Yarmouth and Harwich. Other sections of the Cape saw destructive straight-line winds to 90 mph. Trees and powerlines were flattened, knocking out power to over 50,000 residents and vacationers, most of whom are still in the dark as of Tuesday night.

 

 

The storm responsible for the tornado was observed on regional radar much earlier in the day leaving the coast of New Jersey. It skirted eastern Long Island in the mid-morning, causing some sporadic gusty winds. However, the rotation tightened significantly as the storm crossed the open water south of coastal New England. By noon, it was moving back onshore on Cape Cod with widespread destructive wind gusts of 70-90 mph. Video evidence suggests the tornado itself may have started as a waterspout, only causing significant damage when it came on land. The roof of the Cape Sands Inn was almost totally ripped off (see video tweet below), just a year after it had been completely replaced.

 

 

 

Tornado activity on Cape Cod is generally very rare. This narrow strip of land lies between three relatively cool bodies of water, drastically limiting the opportunity for very warm, unstable air usually necessary for tornadic storm development. Only three other tornadoes have been reported since 1950, the most recent being a relatively weak waterspout that came ashore as an EF-0 at Woods Hole in October of last year. Analysis is ongoing, but preliminary indications are that the Tuesday twister will be rated a “high-end” EF-1 with winds of 110 mph. Lead photo courtesy Wikipedia contributor ShorebreakOz.

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