The most destructive tornado in New England history struck Worcester 70 years ago. Here's what happened.

Boston Globe

2 days ago

The violent tornado was on the ground for 84 minutes and grew to over a mile wide, claiming 94 lives.
Thousands of buildings were destroyed.
Back then, F4 tornadoes were estimated to have maximum wind speeds between 207 and 260 mph. (Since 2007, when the Enhanced Fujita scale came out, both wind speed and destruction are considered when rating a tornado. There's a good chance that the Worcester tornado would have been rated an EF-5 based on the updated system.) There has only been one tornado since that has claimed more lives: the Joplin, Missouri twister of 2011, which killed more than 100 people.
Weather setup
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The Worcester tornado was one of four to strike the region that afternoon, spawning from a strong area of low pressure with a powerful cold front interacting with excessive humidity. According to reports from that day, dew points were well into the 70s, priming the atmosphere for explosive storms.
When you forecast the possibility of tornadoes, you need four main ingredients — wind shear, lift, instability, and moisture. Wind shear is the change in wind speed and direction with height in the atmosphere. Lift refers to a mechanism to drive moist, warm air upwards in the atmosphere. Instability and moisture are more obvious, but the more humid it is, the more unstable the atmosphere becomes. All four ingredients were present across New England that day.
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It was also the first-ever tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service (known as the U.S. Weather Bureau back then) in New England, but the warning came only after the twister had touched down — debris was already falling out of the sky at the Blue Hill observatory deck — meaning it was too late for many people to seek shelter.
A very strong area of low pressure highlighted the surface weather map of New England on June 9, 1953.
NWS
Path of destruction
The monster tornado began its path of destruction over the Quabbin Reservoir near Petersham around 4:30 p.m., tracking to the southeast and crashing into the towns of Barre and Rutland.
By the time the clock struck 5 p.m., the tornado had strengthened significantly
in Holden, leveling whole neighborhoods.
The path of the 1953 Worcester tornado.
TornadoTalk
The tornado reached maximum strength and severity when hitting Worcester, with Assumption College in its crosshairs. The northern side of the campus, made of heavy brick walls, was leveled.
Assumption College just after 5 p.m. on June 9, 1953.
Assumption University
What's interesting here is that the Worcester hills, specifically Burncoat, may have amplified wind speeds
at this point in the tornado's life, increasing the damage and possibly reaching F5 intensity. Hills can impact a tornado's strength, and increasing elevation could have led to stronger winds.
The massive tornado continued into Shrewsbury and Westborough, destroying many homes and businesses until finally fading near the Southborough/Framingham line.
Three other tornadoes formed that same day, one in Southeastern Mass., an F3, and two in Southeastern New Hampshire — an F3 and F1.
Aftermath
To put into context just how powerful this tornado was, debris was found as far away as Eastham on Cape Cod, a signal of just how strong the vortex and updraft were from this storm. Books were found — confirmed to be from Worcester — in Provincetown.
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It took years for the region to recover. More than 4,000 buildings were destroyed by the nearly hour-and-a-half tornado, causing the equivalent of $550 million in damage if the event occurred in 2025.
June 10, 1953: The worst tornado in New England's history ripped a 25-mile path of death and destruction through six Central Massachusetts communities on June 9, 1953. The tornado which touched down at 4:25 near the town of Petersham continued for 84 minutes ultimately killing 94 people and leaving over 15,000 homeless. This picture from Burncoat Street in Worcester shows the pile of debris left in its wake.
The Boston Globe/Boston Globe
Assumption College was relocated to Salisbury Street, while Quinsigamond Community College was built in the years after on the land where Assumption once stood.
The Worcester tornado bookmarked a multiday severe weather event across the country, spawning epic tornadoes that have now been cemented in the weather history books.
The event in early June 1953 spearheaded rapid changes to how the country handled forecasting, including the development of a storm spotter network that dramatically improved the timing of tornado warnings to help people find cover sooner.
Ken Mahan can be reached at