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A cloud drop associated with tornadic activity near Sandwich, Massachusetts on Tuesday. (Rob Craig via Facebook)
Cape Cod is a fun summer vacation destination, and the weather usually turns winter at this time of year. On Tuesday, the cape was more like Oklahoma than New England, with several tornadoes being shot in parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
At least three tornadoes seem to have hit the ground. It is a region that does not see many tornadoes at any time of the year, and it is as late as they arrive in southern New England.
The storms really started cooking after Tuesday's lunch as a pocket of high-altitude cold air settled in the area. A funnel cloud sits on the Cape Cod Canal early in the afternoon. "I was parked there and saw the clouds whirling," said Matt Fetzer, a professor of history at Hyannis, who saw the tornadic vortex. "That's what I booked and where I got out of there," he said.
The whirlwind danced for several minutes before heading east and dissipating when it moved ashore to Sandwich, Massachusetts, near the Cape Cod entrance. . This is the first confirmed sea bass on the channel since August 20, 1997. Since it is in contact with the land, it can probably also be classified as a tornado, which could make it the first in Cape Cod since 1977.
The Boston National Weather Service subsequently issued a tornado warning at 3:34 pm. for the northern suburbs of Providence as a low-head supercell run by. He confirmed Tuesday night that a tornado struck in Lincoln, but the strength and length of the path remain to be determined.
This storm continued to produce as it moved eastward. Damage has been reported in Norton, Massachusetts, where a third tornado has been reported. confirmed by the meteorological service.
The most remarkable supercell of the day appeared just before sunset. He took the same route as the first boat, crossing the Cape Cod Canal to the east, before dropping a huge ocean breeze off the coast. he can also cut the shore. The beak intensifies about one mile east of Scusset Beach, a popular tourist destination. Winds of more than 100 mph probably accompanied the vortex over open water.
At least half a dozen other reports of seaweed were received Tuesday afternoon from the Rhode Island coast and southeastern Massachusetts. The weather service sends meteorologists Wednesday in southern New England to conduct storm surveys.
The cause of a tornado swarm at the end of the season
For storms to turn, two basic ingredients must overlap: instability (called CAPE for meteorologists) and shearing. CAPE – or potential energy available through convection – is a measure of the amount of "juice" in the atmosphere. The higher the CAPE, the better the air's ability to rise and form a storm. Most of the time, a storm boils and rains. But if there is enough shear – a change of wind direction depending on the height – the storm may start to twist, preventing its updraft from raining, allowing it to maintain its strength for hours. We call these supercell storms.
Surprising tornado outbreaks in southern New England are virtually unknown. After all, the temperatures were in the 50s and an atmosphere without water was present. On Tuesday, the wind shear environment was plentiful, but the atmosphere seemed to lack energy to support the upward movement. Almost.
In the lowest 5,000 feet of the atmosphere, there is was a lot of instability. even if a thin layer. This meant that the updrafts at the base of the clouds sucked in the air quickly, even though these updrafts did not extend very high in the vertical extent.
In the plains, most supercell storms reach 50,000 feet or more. Tuesday has barely reached 30,000 feet. But with the surface air screaming in the cloud base, the storms did not occur. to have climb so high. The updrafts near the ground were quite strong.
Why concentration near Cape Cod?
Why was there such a concentration of spin-ups on the east end of the Cape Cod Canal? Knowing the area and the weather, I speculated that there were several reasons for Tuesday's miniature tornado drive.
The first is the effect of funneling winds through the canal. The air blowing in Buzzards Bay from the southwest is the object of a sort of "aerodynamic tunnel", thanks to the cliffs located on each side, including the Bourne Bridge at the Sagamore Bridge. This can accelerate ground-level winds, increasing wind shear and increasing low-level rotation. (Although it should also be noted that there was abundant rotation in the downward rotation zone.)
A two-dimensional radar rendering of the second supercell to generate a marine bomb at the east end of the Cape Cod Canal at 6pm on Tuesday. shows that the rotation is parked immediately on the channel. (GR2 adapted by Matthew Cappucci)
Friction has also played a role. On each side of the canal, trees, vegetation and structures slow down the air. But as nothing hinders its flow, a narrow band of uninterrupted wind can veer just above the surface of the water. This also helped to accelerate the winds in the lower levels.
The presence of Cape Cod Bay just 800 meters to the east has probably also added moisture to the air. This reduces the levels of condensation. In other words, the cloud base lowers a little closer to the ground, allowing a funnel to sink more easily to the surface.
A three-dimensional radar rendering of the second supercell generating a marine bomb at the east end of the Cape Cod Canal on Tuesday at 18h. shows the rotation parked immediately on the channel. (GR2 adapted by Matthew Cappucci)
Water temperatures were also decisive. At the eastern end of the channel, the shallow waters are some of the warmest in the region at this time of year. Contrasting with winter temperatures a little above the ground, the waters added additional instability and "lift" to the air. We also see it on the Great Lakes in the fall.
And finally, why two storms in two hours? A low air mass limit, or effective warm front, was probably draped near the canal. This frontal zone allowed the storms to train like wagons on a railway and improved swirl – spin energy – near the interface.
Not at all October
The storms also dropped hail in places more than an inch thick, covering the ground with pea-sized ice pellets. Further north in Maine, thunderstorms were accompanied by slush, thanks to the freezing of air within 2 km of altitude. The tip of Mount Washington, whose summit rises higher than any other here, has collected half a foot of snow.
Meanwhile, a plane leaving the Manchester Regional Airport in New Hampshire to travel to Orlando was forced to land in Connecticut after being blocked by lightning. Flight 2515 from Southwest Airlines landed safely at Hartford, at Bradley International Airport, and took off after a four hour delay.
A J. Waterman, a Massachusetts native and a radio weatherman in Wisconsin, was visiting home to participate in the World Series. "I was getting ready for the first game when I noticed storms coming up," he wrote. "I immediately detected the radar and was shocked to see the storms spinning."
Waterman made his way south, missing the Rhode Island storm and making an appointment with the second tornadic supercell to hit the canal. "A photo of the top of the Bourne bridge was all that could be managed since the unusual storm of October, but the tornado was there."
In the midst of all the madness, some good news: The Red Sox were able to face the L.A. Dodgers visiting Fenway without delay.
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