394 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW AUQUST, 1924
flat. Just east to northeast of the barn that was blown down a young ap le orchard had every tree in i t up-
Although there was no complete destruction even in the direct ath of the funnel cloud, the wide estent of
fourths of a mile, was a notable feature of this storm. The occurrence of severe winds and partial destruction by such winds here and there was reported, while the eatcst dama e farther on occurred in the Merrimac
rooted, broken or { ent from a southwesterly direction.
considerab P e destruction, at Whalom upwards of three-
Fall, from a c 7 oudbu-mt. The downpour began at Law-
rence at 12:45 m. (60th mer. time), and the darkness was extreme. $his rain flooded and severely washed out a number of streets, and added to the damage of the hail in an immediately preceding storm. In connection with the strong winds, presumably in one of the storms on this date a barrel was picked u
Beach, N. H. Suc R is the statement in the Worcester Evening Post, for July 29, under a photograph of the barrel in this position.
half a mile and de osited on top of a tall PO ?, e at carried Rye
THE QREAT HAILSTORM IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NORTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS, JULY
17, 1934
By B. M. VARNEY 55//: s-7 8.7 (794x742)
(Weather Bureau, Washington, August 26,1Q24)
The advance of the wind-shift line eastward from the region of tornado damage described in.the previous article continued to be accompanied by violent convectional overturnin , which caused severe thunderstorms, with
be more remarkable than a great fall which occurred there on July 4, 1880. Following the hailstorm after an interval of about an hour, another thunderstorm added a rainfall of almost cloudburst intensity. The total pre- cipitation recorded at Lawrence was 1.29 inches. Press reports indicate that the severest disturbance (which was of tornado violence only in the area noted in the foregoing account) moved about east-northeast over a belt of country some 15 miles wide and lying largely north of the Merrimack River, which in this part of its course flows also about east-northeast. The south- ernmost damagereported by the ress occurred in Andover,
That the
falls of ha’ 9 at Lawrence, Mass., said by old residents to
south of the nver, and the nort ?I ernmost in Salem, N. H. off the New Eng-
ment thus indicated corresponds somewhat closely in direction with that of the center of the controlling cyclone, as nearly as that can be determined from the weather maps. At Blue Hill Observatory (640 ft. altitude) a maximum wind velocit of 72 niilea per hour was recorded
On the maps ferewith are shown the pressure distri- butions concerned, for 8 a. m. and 8 p. m., 75th meridian time, July 17, 1924. Arrows show the observed wind at selected stations (the initial letters of which are shown), the broken lines show the a proximate ositions of the
8 p. m. map the osition of the belt (as well as it can be
the hail storm and the rainstorm here referred to and the tornado and high Win& discussed in the foregoing paper. The disturbance as reported from Lawrence and vicinity consisted of two dlstinct arts, as will be noted
of July 17, 1924 : “ Two of the most spectacular ar;: usual freak summer storms in the history of Lawrence visited the cit within the short space of two hours Thurs-
“ Nature sent a thunder and lightning storm about 11
o’clock calculated to strike terror into the stoutest of
during the passa e of t K e squall line.
wind-shift line, and the sym \ 01 of para1 P el lines on the
located from pu t lished reports) within which occurred
in the following quotation from t R e Lawrence Tel
da and did B amage that will run into the thousands of do 9 lam.
hearts, when darkening skies, roarin thunder, flashing lightning, and sweeping rains were fo K owed by a shower of hailstones varying from countless lum s of ice the size of marbles to thousands of larger ones as 8; as hen’s e gs.
“ The hailstorm in itself was thrill enoug 5 for one f ay, but the elements were not finished. At 13.45 a darkness as of night descended over the city, the thunder rumbled, the lightning flashed, and in a twinkling Lawrence was deluged in a fall of rain that was a veritable cloudburst. The rain swept down upon the darkened city in torrential sheets flooding the streets, overrunning the sidewalks and complete1
within the memory of the oldest resident of the city and the city underwent a veritable bombardment of icy pellets. Up to press time nobody had been reported injured, but that was nothing more or less than a miracle, because most of the icy stones falling were of a size sufficient to stun and injure an one struck by them. To talk of hailstones as large as Ken’s eg s may seem like exaggeration to those who were not in t a e city during the storm, but thousands of local residents resent can truthfully testify that they were the rule rat R er than the exception, while the sizes in odd case5 ran to almost un- believable extremes. [In Methuen and Salem counties lumps of ice lar er than baseballs are reported to have fallen.--Ed.]. #he Lawrence Common and lawns all over the city were covered after the storm with thousands of hailstones of all sizes. “The places in this vicinity which suffered the worst were Salem, N. H., and Methuen, in the opinion of those who visited the different localities after the storm. North Andover and Boxford were hit hard also, but very little damage was caused in Lawrence or Andover except in isolated cases. The storm, which came from the north, cut a wide swath through Salem and Methuen. Accord- ing to observers the storm struck Salem with all its force and then moved southward, striking the western section of Methuen, where it veered eastward and moved in the direction of Pleasant Valley across the northern and cen- tral section of the town. Near Pleasant Valley it swerved to the south across the Merrimack river, struck Nolth Andover and Boxford and continued on toward Haverhill following the course of the river. Only the edge of the storm vortex [?I was felt in Lawrence and consequently the dama e was not as heav as in Methuen and Salem which felt %e full force of t i e gale and the accompanying hailstones. “An exact estimate of the damage caused by the storm is impossible because of the wide area @ff ected and because in some localities the dtlmage was so widespread that it
esceeding the capacity of the city sewers. “‘l’he i ailstorm was the most severe and unusual
AUGUST, 1924 MONTHLY lVEA4THER REVIEW 395
would be impossible to reach a fair estimate of it. In Salem, N. H., the crops and fruit trees on almost every farm were destroyed and one Salem farmer stated that the farms in his vicinity were practically ruined. In- numerable fruit trees were shorn of their budding fruit, corn and other crops were levelled to the ground, market gardens were riddled by the hail and hundreds of windows in farmhouses and barns were broken.
phone lines were reported out of commission, an esti-
mated total dama e of $15,000 occurred to four green- houses (none of t em insured and one of them, under construction, 'ust nearing completion) , while in a school building near 1 y all the window panes on the north side on two floors were broken. The total damage from the hailstorm in Lawrence, Methuen, and Salem is placed at $75,000. Of this, some
FIG. l.-Pressures. wind directions and approximate positions of the wind sliilt line over New England !it 8 a. m. and R 11. m., July 17. 19w. The parallel lines on tho 8 p. m.
map in southeastern l i e s 1l:iNlMhire nnd northemtcrn AImswhusrtls show approximately the aren within which oenirred the damage noted in this nud the preceding article
" In Bosford and North Andover the storm caused more $50,000 is assi ned to destroyed crops, including esten- damage than in Lawrence. l'he cro s on many farms
stones, and fruit trees were ruined. The damage to crops and trees is estimated at several thousand dollars." Thou h Lawrence appears to have suffered less from
to f ruit on trees. Espense of remaking street were riddled and leveled to the grouni by t.he large hail-
the ha if storm than the surrounding country, 500 tele-
which many on the hillier parts of Lawrence washed out during the second storm, and storm sewers *to working order, will add some dollars to the above sum.
WINDSTORMS IN WISCONSIN, AUCIUST 7, 1924
By W. P. STEWART
[Weather Bureau, Milwaukee, Wis., Sept. 10, I!224]
Two tornadoes which formed almost simultaneously in west-central Wisc,onsin during the evening of August 7, 1924, caused seven fatalit.ies and a property loss esti- mated at about $300,000. The first of these storms ap eared in the vicinity of
Osseo, Trempealeau County, a E out 6:30 p. m., moving from northwest to southeast. It was last reported near Black River Falls, Jackson County, about 37 miles south- east, half an hour later. The funnel-shaped cloud was seen by all observers. The width of the path of great destruction was variously estimated as from 1,000 feet to a mile. Four persons were killed, and many were more or less seriously injured. A few dwelling houses and a large number of farm buildings were destroyed.
The' second tornado originated apparently a few miles northwest of New Auburn, Chippewa County, probably just north of the Barron County line. It moved from northwest to southeast and was first reported at 7:OO
p. m. The funnel-shaped cloud was seen by many observers. The width of the path of great destruction was about 60 rods, and the length 8 to 10 miles. Three persons lost their lives and approximately 100 were injured. Several farm residences and a lar e number of other farm buildings were destroyed. 7% e loss of crops from both of these tornadoes was heavy. It is not practicable to estimate the speed with which these storms moved, as the time is not reported with sufficient accuracy.