Can tornadoes happen in New England?

Question

I've heard this before,but could another one hit us again? A big one hasn't happen since 1950.

LOL!It's not spell Worchester..its Worcestor,or Woo-sta.New England is in tornado alley..but i'm just wondering why its not active as most places are.

Answer 1

First of all you need to understand what causes a tornado to occur. It is basically uplift with a nimbus cloud. This uplift starts a rotation within the cloud. The lift is caused by warm air over-riding an area of cold air. Clouds that have a drastic change in temps, will cause a massive amount of lift, and are called Super-Cells. These clouds will, at the very least, cause severe thunderstorms and often tornados.

The reason that New England does not see the amount of tornados that the mid-west does, is that the situation does not occur as it does in the mid-west.

The midwest is offered the cool air from the Rockies and the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. Perfect circumstances for the production of tornados.

Plus the fact that at the opportune time for these circumstances to occur, the Jet Stream normally is in direct cooperation. A low pressure will occur over Washington State and then the jet stream will carry that low over the Rockies, where it cools and dries out, creating a High Pressure area, and then it is met by a warm, wet Low Pressure air mass being carried up out of the Gulf. These two different air masses, a cool, dry one and a Warm, wet one, perfect items for the formation of a super cell.

Basically, the items needed to form super cells are just not that available in New England. Although, they are possible and do occur all the time. There was one in Mechanicville NY that basically wiped a certain part of the town off the map, and of course, the Worcester, Mass F5 tornado.

To make a long story short, they are rare compared to tornado alley, but under the right circumstances, they could most definately occur. If you ever get a tornado warning issued in your area, by the NWS, take it seriously

Answer 2

Yes, tornadoes can. The Worchester tornado was truly a "big one", category F5, and they happen very infrequently, even in tornado alley. So don't count on a 55 year hiatus to assume it won't happen again.

Answer 3

They sure can. Last summer doing a storm damage survey for a former professor to determine if a storm in Barnet, VT had produced a tornado or a microburst. There have definitely been reports of tornadoes throughout New England.

Answer 4

Yes they can, the London Bridge was completely destroyed by a tornado in 1091.

Answer 5

yes tornadoes can happen in New England. I live in CT and last year we had a few that did some damage, but not nearly on the scale of the tornadoes out west.

Answer 6

Yeah, they can happen anywhere. You know where i live we dont have many(michigan) theres a few in the summer, mostly south of me, and i :( havent seen one, however one of the most destructive tornadoes happened just about 50 miles north of where i live, an f5 in flint, though it was about 50 years ago, its proof that its definetley possible. I would love to see at least a funnel cloud around here, as long as its not destroying my neighborhood and hurting people, id be pretty exited.

Answer 7

Yes, in fact they can also happen in even less suspecting places, like California, Colorado, the UK, Africa, etc.

They are simply more likely to happen in the plain states.

Tornados often occure on the tail end of a thunder storm. It could even be mostly sunny when a tornado occures.

Answer 8

The US Weather Service seems to think so. They issued a tornado warning last week in the Boston area.

Answer 9

Of course it can. You may not live in Tornado Alley but it is always possible.

Answer 10

Hello.......tornadoes can happen anywhere! Plus, if one happened in 1950, that is proof there that they can happen. It happened then. It can happen now.