Tears in my eyes as I see the damage in West Springfield, MA today.

[RadiationTherapy]

Live Coverage here: http://www.wwlp.com/subindex/video/player_page

My heart is in the 413, my old hometown, tonight.

[dkf]

1. What happened?

[RadiationTherapy]

4. Several tornadoes in the area.

One went through West Springfield. More storms moving through and coming. More tornado warnings as well.

[dkf]

10. Oh no. I am so sorry :(

[trueblue2007]

27. Tornado touches down in downtown Spfld

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/national/Copy_of_Tornado-touches-down-in-downtown-Spfld

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Multiple tornadoes caused damage across Western Massachusetts Wednesday afternoon, including one that caused heavy damage in Springfield's Downtown and South End neighborhoods.

The tornado had crossed the Connecticut River from West Springfield into the city, crossing the Connecticut River and Interstate 91.

<snip>

22News is at Main and Union Streets in the South End, where there is damage to buildings, including the collapse of the top stories of a building on Main Street and as well as downed trees. 22News is continuing to follow reports of damages. There was also a report of a gas leak on Main Street near the Red Rose Pizzeria.

Mark Dupont, Spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, told 22News that there was damage to Cathedral High School, most of which was confined to windows. Students were inside the building at the time, but Dupont says they were safe.

[Maru Kitteh]

2. So sorry about your home :-( Am I totally off base here or is this a VERY strange thing to happen

to your part of the country? It just all seems wrong :-(

I hope all your friends and family are OK. :hug:

[RadiationTherapy]

6. They are coming through on FB little by little

but it is still present tense for them out there.

In my experience following the area, it is very unusual in the area's history.

[Ohio Joe]

3. I just got off the phone with a good friend in MA

She is in Natick and was telling me how bad it was in Springfield, she also said Worcester got hit pretty bad. They also just gave warnings for her area so we got off so she could go to the basement with her dog. I'm just waiting to hear from her when it passes.

[nebenaube]

5. That wasn't a tornado

It was straight-line laminar winds that kicked up a whirl-wind. You cannot see through a tornado funnel.

[RadiationTherapy]

7. Thank you.

[Lucinda]

9. I wondered about that when i saw the video

Thanks for the info

[pipi_k]

12. I saw it on live TV

There was rotation.

Three meteorologists pronounced it a tornado.

The only thing left is for the NWS to show up to give it an EF number.

[nebenaube]

13. EF=0

You cannot see through a tornado, it's a solid mass of blue-green and it boils.

[Maru Kitteh]

15. Sure. Lots of EF0's tear apart brick buildings.

[pipi_k]

26. Oh, you silly!

That wasn't a tornado!

It was just a big fart.

[Maru Kitteh]

29. All those Boston beans. Not enough beano.

Silly me.

[sharp_stick]

18. Really?

I'm not aware of any tornado scale using opacity or density to measure tornadoes. I would suspect that an EF-1 in an area without a lot of dirt and debris (read lots of trees and humidity) will likely be pretty easy to see through, especially as it's crossing water.

[pipi_k]

30. Exactly...

While we won't know for some time exactly where that was on the EF scale, I heard on the news about 15 minutes ago...from a local expert who has seen many of these things...that on the EF scale from 0 to 5, he would not be at all surprised if this one came in somewhere in the middle.


I'm sitting here watching footage of the damage. It's frightening. Absolutely frightening. People only saw the beginning part of the tornado as it crossed the river. At that point it was transparent. As it moved out of camera range (WWLP's sky cam fixed on the top of a very high building) it became opaque and destroyed buildings and cars.

Then it turned southeast and traveled some distance, touching down in a couple of other towns in its path.

Meteorologists tracked this one particular tornado for something like 25 miles.

According to the last two paragraphs in the following link, in which brick walls are knocked down, the wind speeds would have to be on average about 150 MPH. That would make it an EF=3.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/efscale/

[pipi_k]

20. Once it crossed the river...

it WAS a solid mass.


All area experts are calling it a tornado.

Straight line winds don't hop from one area to the next, change direction (from west to east to south), and then hop and skip another 20 plus miles to the east.

And to call it an EF 0 without even being there?


Even the NWS knows enough to make a visual assessment of damage before labeling a tornado.

:eyes:

[nebenaube]

44. Gee, I watched a satellite dish and rooftop webcam survive a whirlwind...

Give me a break... Joplin had a tornado.

[Maru Kitteh]

47. .

[nebenaube]

51. Responding to the OP.

And laminar winds can do that... This on the other hand:

[TheCowsCameHome]

38. Thanks for the insight.

Not.

[Maru Kitteh]

14. Doctors of meteorology apparently disagree with you.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/tornado-in-downtown-springfield-ma-20822

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2011/06/01/vo.springfield.mass.tornado.cnn?&hpt=hp_c2

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/Tornado-touches-down-in-downtown-Spfld?hpt=us_bn4

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/springfield-tornado-photos_2011-06-01


I was watching while it happened. That was one hell of a hook, tight, organized and a debris ball that showed up on radar.

It was DEFINITELY a tornado.

[Ian David]

23. Experts always disagree with "Ignored." n/t

[NotThisTime]

36. local news suggesting it was an F3..... won't know until later on obviously

[nebenaube]

42. I have not seen film of any thing more than a whirl wind...

Eau Claire has lost thousands of trees over the years due to laminar winds (IMHO thanks to I-94) but that's the way the winds blow...

[Maru Kitteh]

46. You haven't seen a video so it didn't happen. How . . . incredibly smart.

EF2

http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-boston/springfield-tornado-picture

What else ya got, sparky?

[nebenaube]

49. I saw a transparent funnel and laminar winds can do that...

* off...

[Pithlet]

28. It was a tornado.

Every other reputable source, including weather sources, reports at such. And it happens to look like one.

[pipi_k]

32. Oh stop it!

who are you gonna believe...

An army of meteorologists and weather experts....


or some random person on the internet...


:+

[TrogL]

48. I used to work at an office that had a weather department

They had a picture of a see-through tornado funnel up on the wall.

Tornados turn colour depending on what dust and debris they've picked up.

I've seen a snow tornado.

[Pithlet]

52. A snow tornado!

I hate to get all weather geeky, but man. That must have been something.

[kcks]

8. I was in

Joplin last Friday, it is hard to believe just what wind can do.

[pipi_k]

11. I used to live there, too...

Mid 1970s to early 1980s.

Fairview Avenue and Sprague Street.

[HockeyMom]

16. Hope everyone is OK

My husband was stationed in Springfied before going to Nam. His 94 year old Aunt lives in Worcester.

[HockeyMom]

17. Hope everyone is OK

My husband was stationed in Springfied before going to Nam. His 94 year old Aunt lives in Worcester.

[RadiationTherapy]

19. This is all very present tense right now.

Tornado warnings for areas until 11pm.

[malaise]

21. How sad

:grouphug:

[City of Mills]

22. Lowell's on deck

Hope we're spared Springfield's fate :(

[Bonobo]

24. I lived in Northampton from 1999-2010.

Hope all my friends are safe.

[pipi_k]

34. I'm pretty sure that while some funnel clouds were seen...

none of them actually touched down there. Stepdaughter lives there, and she hasn't reported any damage.


PS...I used to work there.

Very cool city.

[MuseRider]

25. So sorry.

Tornadoes in my area again tonight but it is common here.

Stay safe.

About the clearness of the video, I have to say I have never seen through a tornado BUT when one starts (becomes as tornado from a funnel) it starts from the ground up and at first all it is is debris. The videos I have seen of the point that it changes from a funnel to a tornado on the ground they are always just a whirl of whatever they touch down on, in this case it was parts of buildings not dirt or dust out in the country.

From the one photo I saw it does not look like it was very big but that never matters. What matters is that everyone is alright. I hope there were no injuries or death.

We had a really funky little storm here a few months ago. People were up in arms, people who had seen it or experienced damage from it, when the weather service called it a Dust-nado. That was a new one for those of us who go through this every year.

Anyway, it will be cleared up as soon as they get in and look at it all. It is amazing what straight line winds can do but what I saw did not look like straight line wind but then I am not a meteorologist, just Dorothy from Kansas.

Be safe everyone.

[ellenfl]

31. kick

[canoeist52]

33. Four people confirmed killed today

[MuseRider]

37. Oh no.

I am so sorry.

[NotThisTime]

39. I heard 1 in Springfield, was that just updated?

[canoeist52]

40. you're right 1 in Springfield 2 in Westfield and 1 in Brimfield?

[Little Star]

35. My childhood hometown of Southbridge had a touchdown...

on Charlton St. I went to grammar school at Charlton St. Elementary. There were quite a few touchdowns around MA and it ain't over yet. We have been tornado warning updated until 11pm. Gov. Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency and called out the national guard. This amount of tornado's is very weird for MA.

[RadiationTherapy]

41. It is all very unusual in my 30 years' familiarity with the region.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Generic Other]

45. My sister lives in West Springfield and reports it was wild

She is fine, but lots of phone calls from worried relatives.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. That's the first thing

Phone calks. Good that she is well