Five confirmed EF1 tornadoes in Worcester County

The Bay State saw a lot of damage this past Saturday after a handful of tornadoes touched down in central Massachusetts. Luckily, none here in western Massachusetts. 22 News Team meteorologist Alexa Biano followed up with the National Weather Service following the string of severe weather. Yes, Dick and Sara. The National Weather Service's original survey was that there was only two EF1 tornadoes in the central Massachusetts, but they updated it to a total of five. Strong thunderstorms across western and central Massachusetts caused significant damage as well as a total of five EF1 tornadoes were confirmed in central Massachusetts. The warnings began in southern Berkshire County to Springfield, but no tornado was reported that touched down until it got to Worcester County. We had a number of eyewitnesses who actually saw swirling debris or lofting debris. So that's very helpful. So for that we look at what are called damage debris indicators. Things like damage to trees. what what types of trees were they pines? Were they hardwoods? And what was the extent? Were they uprooted? Were they snapped? Were just the tops taken off? So, and how many trees? And that was really all the damage that the team saw. There was no damage to any structures. Fortunately, September 6th's thunderstorm was strong enough to skip the watch and jump straight to the tornado warning. On average, Massachusetts gets two tornadoes a year, and we got five in just 30 minutes. And once we have that assigned wind speed, then we kind of work backwards and put it into the enhanced Fuja scale. So 86 to 110 mph is EF1. So we're solidly within that. And that's how we determine the rating. Then also they're looking at things like the tracks. So where did it begin? Where did it end? What was the path length? What was the path width? Out of the five twisters, the biggest tornado was at 4:30 p.m. and was on the ground for four minutes in Stow with a path width of 100 yards, a path length of 2.38 miles, and winds around 104 milesPH. The second largest one was in Berlin with a path width of 150 yards, a path length of 0.60 miles, and winds around 104 miles hour. Whenever there is the potential for a tornado, make sure you're prepared and take shelter in the most inner and lowest part of a house or building.