A Tornado In Massachusetts, In February: And Yes, It's Related To Warming
NORTHAMPTON — Tornadoes in Massachusetts are rare. A tornado in February? Unheard of. Until Saturday night.
At about 7:20 p.m., the National Weather Service said, a tornado touched down in Goshen, lifted for several miles and touched down again in Conway. The twister was on the ground for about 7 minutes with maximum wind speeds reaching an estimated 110 mph. The weather service said the tornado cut a 5-mile path through Conway. It was the first February tornado in Massachusetts’ recorded history, according to the weather service. Official tornado statistics date back to 1950.
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Thunderstorms, which can lead to tornadoes, form from a “clash of cold and warm air masses,” said Michael Rawlins, associate director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts. “There was unseasonably warm air over the region ... last week into Saturday,” DelliCarpini said. “And then we had a strong cold front cross the area Saturday, which produced a line of showers and thunderstorms.
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In a study published last October in the Journal of Climate, Rawlins and a team of researchers wrote that by 2050 Massachusetts could see fewer than 20 days per winter that dip below freezing. “You wouldn’t get a thunderstorm unless you had the conditions,” Rawlins said. “It’s much more likely that you’re going to get a thunderstorm or a tornadic thunderstorm much earlier in the season with a warming climate.”
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http://www.recorder.com/Conway-Goshen-tornado-was-first-in-recorded-history-8362179