Northeast Tornado Stats: 2013

Here’s a recap of the 2013 tornado season across the Northeast.

Connecticut had four reports of tornadoes during 2013, which is roughly twice the average amount of about two. Keep in mind that 2012 had no tornadoes in the state, so one could argue that this was nature’s way of balancing itself out.

Elsewhere, New Jersey was the only other state in the Northeast with above average tornado reports. (They average two per year, but had three in 2013) Maine is not pictured here, but Maine had at least two tornado reports. Since they average two per year, that’s right at average. Massachusetts also saw an average year with one tornado report. Vermont and New Hampshire typically average about one tornado per year, but both states saw no tornadoes this year. New York was well below average with just four tornadoes. The average there is 10 per year. Pennsylvania reported nine tornadoes, also well below their average of 16 per year.
Averages based off of 1991-2010 reports, per NCDC.

April 19th: An EF-1 tornado touched down near Bainbridge, N.Y. and was on the ground for 3.2 miles. (link)
May 9th: A weak EF-0 tornado touched down near Stoughton, Mass., but the length of damage was less than 0.5 miles. This was a cold air funnel case and not a “classic” tornado. (link)
May 28th: There were four tornado reports across northwestern Pennsylvania. Three of the tornadoes were rated EF-1s and one was an EF-0. The longest tracking tornado was an EF-1 that touched down near Edinboro and had a damage path of 18 miles long.
May 29th: Two tornadoes were reported in eastern New York State. One was a significant, long-track tornado (EF-2). It was on the ground for 17 miles and the damage path was up to 1 mile wide. Another tornado, a weaker EF-1, was reported just to the southwest of that storm. (link)
June 2nd: Two brief and weak EF-0 tornadoes were reported in Maine.
June 27th: Two EF-1 tornadoes were reported in central Pennsylvania.
July 1st: A somewhat unusual morning tornado (EF-1) was reported in extreme northeastern New Jersey. The same storm that was responsible for that tornado resulted in three tornado reports across Connecticut from late morning into early afternoon. The first report was an EF-0 that touched down in Greenwich. The most notable tornado was the second one, which was an EF-1 in the Windsor and Windsor Locks areas. A weak, brief EF-0 tornado was the third report in Enfield. (link)
July 10th: A brief EF-1 tornado was reported near Moravia, Penn. during the afternoon. Less than an hour later, an intermittent EF-1 tornado was reported in Connecticut between Andover and Mansfield. The damage path of that tornado was 11.2 miles long.
July 27th: An EF-1 tornado was reported in north-central Pennsylvania near Borie. That same storm dropped another EF-1 tornado in adjacent New York State about an hour later. The second of those two tornadoes was on the ground for 14 miles.
August 7th: A minor EF-0 tornado was reported in southwestern Pennsylvania near Ralphton.
August 13th: A weak EF-0 tornado was reported near Manahawkin, N.J.
October 7th: An EF-1 tornado was reported near Paramus, N.J.
The tornadoes pictured above across Delaware, Maryland and Ohio were not included in the above time-line.

As might be expected, the strongest and longest-tracking tornadoes across the Northeast this year were across New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.

Those areas are climatologically favored for significant tornadoes, at least when compared to areas further east. With that said, there have certainly been cases of strong tornadoes in southern New England. The most recent case was the deadly EF-3 tornado that tracked across south-central Massachusetts on June 1st of 2011. The above image is a composite that is not perfectly to scale.

United States tornado seasons:
Through then winter, the Gulf States are favored for tornado development. There was a minor event this past Sunday, on January 12th, that featured a few EF-0 tornado reports in extreme southeastern Virginia. Into spring, the focus shifts toward the Midwest and late spring into early summer is when the Northeast most commonly sees tornadoes.