Watching the weather

While many of us were glued to our televisions and reading the latest news reports from Moore, Okla., we must know that violent storms, including tornadoes, can hit Berkshire County, creating death and destruction.

Case in point was the pending cleanup in Moore Tuesday from a EF-5 Tornado Monday with winds at more than 200 miles per hour leveling homes and businesses and causing the death toll, at 21, with several hundred injured.

Meanwhile, clouds and humidity were in The Berkshires for the most of Tuesday.

By Tuesday night, a severe thunderstorm or possible tornado was predicted for western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and northern Connecticut.

Reminiscent was the 1995 Great Barrington tornado (also known as the Memorial Day Tornado of 1995), an F4 tornado.

Three people were killed, two students and a staff member from a private school in Great Barrington, when their car was picked up and thrown by the tornado. Some 27 people were injured, more than 100 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, and the twister toppled thousands of trees. Its winds were exceptionally strong, estimated to range from 158 to 260 mph.

The 2011 New England tornado outbreak occurred on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, in Massachusetts’ Connecticut River Valley and also in southern Maine, devastating sections of the large city of Springfield, Mass. and its surrounding region, including Wilbraham and Monson.

Matt Noyes, weatherman for NECN-TV, noted this week we as a region are not out of danger and at some point, a severe storm will hit us.

Last night television newscasts at 11 p.m. were focused on the commonwealth, especially western Massachusetts. No sightings were reported, but heavy rain along with thunderstorms hit during the early morning on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, we reflect on the tornado of June 9, 1953, which became one of the deadliest in the nation’s history – and the deadliest ever in New England – when it barreled through the City of Worcester, ultimately killing 94 people and leaving 10,000 homeless.

Posted by George C. Jordan III on May 23, 2013. Filed under Editorials,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry