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Photo courtesy of NSSL. An example of an EF-1 tornado in Cordell, Oklahoma is pictured here in a photo from the collection of the National Severe Storm Laboratory via spc.noaa.gov.
8-18-2023 11:01pm
3 Tornadoes Touched Down in Stoughton, Mansfield/N. Attleboro, & Weymouth on Friday, Aug. 18th
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Three tornadoes are confirmed to have touched down in Stoughton, Mansfield/North Attleboro, and Weymouth in Massachusetts on Friday, August 18th, according to the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office for Boston/Norton, MA (NWS Boston), in a statement issued on Friday night.
The EF-1 tornado in Mansfield and North Attleboro, with wind speed estimated at 80 to 90 m.p.h. was produced from the same storm that produced an EF-2 tornado in Rhode Island, when the storm crossed over into Massachusetts, says NWS Boston.
In North Attleboro, the tornado snapped or uprooted many trees on Mendon Road near Monticello Drive as well as on Lisa Drive. The windows were blown in at a home on Mary Ann Way.
The tornado then lifted and next touched down in Mansfield on Gilbert Street, taking the tops of several large trees and causing one large tree to fall on a car. It knocked a 1000-pound air conditioning unit over, which had been sitting on the roof of a commercial building.
In Stoughton, an EF-0 tornado briefly touched down on Eighth and Corbett streets, causing trees to fall, including one on a shed, and damage to a fence. Winds were estimated at 70 to 80 m.p.h.
In Weymouth, an EF-1 tornado with winds estimated at 100-110 m.p.h. touched down near the intersection of Torrey and Pleasant streets, uprooting and snapping many trees. A home nearby had numerous shingles torn from its roof, and on Park Street, a 3-inch diameter branch was driven into the ground to a depth of about 2 feet. A witness who sheltered in her cellar reported seeing swirling debris out the window.
Along with the tornados that NWS Boston has confirmed in Rhode Island, and in North Attleboro/Mansfield, Stoughton and Weymouth in Massachusetts, a fifth tornado in Scotland, Connecticut around 8:00 a.m on Friday morning may have been the cause of damage to over 100 trees that fell or had their tops sheared off. NWS Boston is investigating and expects to be able to announce its assessment on Monday, August 21, 2023.
NWS Boston has collected numerous reports of localized flooding elsewhere in Massachusetts from around 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday. Reports came in from locations including flooding in Worcester, 1-foot of flooding in the right lane of Interstate 495 in Foxborough, significant street flooding in West Newbury and Chelmsford, and a car stuck in a flooded street in Plymouth.
