1995 Great Barrington Tornado
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The 1995 Great Barrington tornado (also known as the Memorial Day Tornado of 1995) was an F4
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
that occurred in the western
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
town of Great Barrington.


Storm background

Around 3:30 p.m. (
Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small p ...
) on May 29, 1995, scattered thunderstorms developed over the Western Catskill Mountains of New York. Over the next few hours the storms moved east, only producing isolated wind and hail. One particular thunderstorm exploded into a
supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms ( ...
upon crossing the
Hudson River Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yo ...
, due to the presence of higher
dew point The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will cond ...
s flowing up the valley from the south and locally enhanced low-level shear. A tornado touched down in Columbia County at 6:40 p.m., producing F2 damage. The tornado lifted off the ground twenty minutes later and the storm moved over the mountains along the New York/Massachusetts border. Shortly after crossing into Massachusetts, the storm dropped the violent
Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, ...
tornado. The F4 tornado touched down at 7:06 PM EDT, and lifted at 7:24 PM EDT.


Tornado and destruction

The tornado itself touched down around 7:06 p.m. in Great Barrington near the Walter J. Koladza Airport. Near the town line with Monterey, a car was lifted off of Route 23, and tossed into a wooded area. More than 100 homes and businesses were either damaged or destroyed, including the grandstand at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds. Additionally, twenty-four people (or twenty-seven according to a different source) were injured. The tornado went for a length of and had a width of . It eventually ended near the town of
Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
. The storm itself caused $25 million worth of damage. Three people were killed—two students and a staff member at the private Eagleton School—as they were returning to the campus in Great Barrington. The F4 rating is based entirely on the car that was thrown 1,000 feet. The worst structural damage from this tornado was in the F3 range. The rating of the tornado is sometimes disputed because of this.


See also

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Tornadoes of 1995 This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1995, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear signi ...
*
List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks These are some notable tornadoes, tornado outbreaks, and tornado outbreak sequences that have occurred in North America. #''The listing is U.S.-centric, with greater and more consistent information available for U.S. tornadoes. Some North Americ ...


References


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:1995 Great Barrington tornado F4 tornadoes Great Barrington tornado Tornadoes in Massachusetts Great Barrington tornado Geography of Berkshire County, Massachusetts History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts Great Barrington, Massachusetts Monterey, Massachusetts Great Barrington tornado