With 9 tornadoes this year, state has new record

“On average, Connecticut sees a tornado once every two to three years.”

Pat Maloit, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Upton, N.Y.

It’s a record few would want.

But nonetheless, Connecticut has a new weather record.

With nine officially confirmed tornadoes this year, Connecticut can now be called Tornado Alley East.

According to weather.com, the state’s previous record in a calendar year was eight tornadoes in 1973.

Tornadoes in 1973 touched down in Greenwich, southern Litchfield County and Hartford County.

The most recent tornado in Connecticut was last Monday in Stonington and North Stonington.

Since 1950, there have been 49 confirmed tornadoes in Connecticut, according to the National Weather Service.

Connecticut’s tornado season began on May 15, when four twisters touched down in Southbury, Oxford, Hamden, Winsted and Barkhamsted.

The first, with winds exceeding 100 miles an hour, touched down in Southbury and traveled more than four miles into Oxford before dissipating. Another tornado touched down in Beacon Falls and traveled nearly 10 miles before breaking up over Hamden.

Another tornado struck in Winsted, causing damage over nearly eight city blocks, while a possible tornado spotted over the Barkhamsted Reservoir apparently didn’t make landfall.

During the summer, there were also confirmed tornadoes in Ashford and Woodstock.

Then on Oct. 2, a tornado was confirmed in New Canaan and Norwalk.

That twister spawned at 5:29 p.m. and lasted to 5:41 p.m., the weather service said, with estimated wind speeds reaching 100 mph. It had a path of nearly 4 miles about 300 feet wide.

There were no reported injuries.

“The tornado began near the intersection of Weed Street and Marshall Ridge Road in New Canaan, and continued southeast for almost four miles, lifting at the intersection of Scribner Avenue and Gillies Lane in Norwalk,” the National Weather Service reported. “Damage was primarily to trees and cars.”

The weather service said the tornado had 100 mph winds, categorizing as an “EF2” event. The Enhanced F Scale ranges to 0 to 5, 5 being the most violent.

“On average, Connecticut sees a tornado once every two to three years,” said Pat Maloit, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Upton, N.Y.

The Connecticut figures are dwarfed by the numbers for Texas, the most tornadoprone state in the country, where more than 5,500 twisters occurred during the same time period.

Weather.com says across the U.S. this year, there have fewer tornadoes than average.

As of last Tuesday, 989 tornadoes had been reported to the NWS this year, more than 300 reported tornadoes below average.