additional tornado pictures

The National Weather Service in Burlington has confirmed a tornado touchdown in Washington, VT on Saturday, May 9th.  (Where is Washington, VT? click here)  here is the article from the localweather newsletter:

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Below is an article from wptz.com.

WASHINGTON, Vt. -- A tornado with winds reaching 100 mph ripped an apartment house's roof off, snapped large trees and destroyed a barn in Washington on Saturday.

The tornado touched down at about 5 p.m., National Weather Service officials concluded after a day-long investigation. They said the tornado had an EF1 intensity on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Tornadoes are considered rare in Vermont, on average one is reporter every two years.

NewsChannel 5's Matt Gerien reported that several people witnessed the tornado touch down, but no one was injured. Dorothy Carrier, a resident, said she saw the twister from her kitchen window.

"It was black, black, and these two cyclones, these two tubes, came down side by side, and eventually, they went right together, and that was the end of it. It just went right down over the hill," Carrier said.

The tornado left a half-mile path of destruction, snapping and uprooting trees, pulling a flag pole out of the ground before moving over Route 110.

Linda Vermette was inside her home when roof of her apartment house peeled away.

"My brother-in-law was in there and he actually started to get down on the floor because he was so scared, because the rumble was so loud. I don't know, it's hard to describe it," Vermette said.

Vermette and her husband, who own the six-unit apartment building, are staying with friends. All of the tenants have since found temporary housing. A Red Cross Disaster Action Team responded to Washington to help the displaced families.

The Washington Village School sustained tornado damage to its roof.

from http://www.wptz.com/weather/19421328/detail.html

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another article, this time from NOAA.

NOUS41 KBTV 102106 CCA
PNSBTV
NYZ026>031-034-035-087-VTZ001>012-016>019-112115-
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
504 PM EDT SUN MAY 10 2009
...EF1 TORNADO IN WASHINGTON VERMONT SATURDAY MAY 9 2009...
AN ASSESSMENT TEAM FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
BURLINGTON VERMONT HAS DETERMINED THAT A TORNADO WITH AN
INTENSITY OF EF1 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE MOVED THROUGH THE
VILLAGE OF WASHINGTON VERMONT ON SATURDAY MAY 9 2009. THE TORNADO
OCCURRED AROUND 5 PM...AND FIRST CAUSED DAMAGE WEST OF
WASHINGTON...THEN TRAVELED EAST-SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE VILLAGE
BEFORE DISSIPATING. THE LENGTH OF THE PATH WAS APPROXIMATELY ONE
HALF MILE.
MULTIPLE EYEWITNESSES OBSERVED THE TORNADO...AND THEIR
DESCRIPTIONS ACCURATELY DESCRIBE THE STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENT OF A
TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM. IN ADDITION...THE DEBRIS PATTERNS SUPPORT
THE ROTATING WINDS EXPERIENCED IN A TORNADO. SOME DEBRIS WAS
BLOWN DOWNWIND ALONG THE TORNADO PATH...WHILE OTHER DEBRIS WAS
BLOWN AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE PATH.
ALTHOUGH THE EXTENT OF DAMAGE WAS SPORADIC...TREES WERE SNAPPED
AND UPROOTED AND AN ENTIRE APARTMENT ROOF WAS REMOVED.
ADDITIONALLY... A STEEL AND MEMBRANE BARN WAS DESTROYED. THE
DEGREE OF DAMAGE TO THESE STRUCTURES IS CONSISTENT WITH WINDS
RANGING FROM 90 TO 100 MILES AN HOUR. THE EF1 INTENSITY INCLUDES
WIND SPEEDS FROM 86 TO 110 MILES PER HOUR...MAKING THIS TORNADO
SOLIDLY IN THE EF1 CATEGORY.
TORNADOES ARE RELATIVELY RARE IN VERMONT. ON AVERAGE 1 TORNADO IS
REPORTED EVERY TWO YEARS. IN ADDITION...A TORNADO OCCURRENCE IN
MAY IS EVEN MORE RARE. A QUICK SEARCH OF TORNADO RECORDS FOR
VERMONT REVEALS THAT THIS IS THE 2ND EARLIEST CONFIRMED TORNADO
IN THE STATE SINCE 1950. THE EARLIEST TORNADO ON RECORD OCCURRED
IN BENNINGTON COUNTY ON MARCH 22 1955...AND WAS RATED AN F2 ON
THE OLD FUJITA SCALE.
$$

HANSON

from http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=BTV&issuedby=BTV&product=PNS  

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