1989 Northeastern United States Tornado Outbreak - Historic Outbreak

Historic Outbreak

This storm event was one of the most extensive ever seen in the Northeastern United States. In all, 17 tornadoes touched down, possibly more. There were 14 instances of measured severe winds (several over 80 mph, 129 km/h), along with 46 reports of straight-line wind damage. There were 10 reports of hail 1 inch (2.5 cm) across or larger, and hail 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) wide fell from one storm, which was producing a tornado at the time. Hail this large is especially rare in this area of the world.

Remarkably, though hundreds of homes and other structures were leveled, no one was killed by tornadoes that day. Tornado damage caused about 140 injuries, mostly minor, and one death and 11 injuries were caused by wind damage. In just five hours, the storms produced more than 12,500 lightning strikes. The airport in Oxford, Connecticut recorded 4.4 inches (112 mm) of rain in just 30 minutes. While the northeastern United States experiences occasional tornadoes, an event of this scale is especially rare. Typical tornadoes in this area are short-lived and not particularly damaging. This outbreak featured several long-lived tornadoes, produced by storms which also produced destructive non-tornadic winds over a large area. Since 1950, only six violent tornadoes have occurred in the Northeastern US, two of which were part of this outbreak. It was by far the worst tornado event in the area since May 2, 1983, when six significant tornadoes tore through New York, and maybe the worst since the Worcester Tornado.