Ipswich, MA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Ipswich is much higher than Massachusetts average and is higher than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Ipswich is lower than Massachusetts average and is much lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #17
| Ipswich, MA | 3.03 |
| Massachusetts | 0.70 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Ipswich, MA | 0.0000 |
| Massachusetts | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #396
| Ipswich, MA | 65.49 |
| Massachusetts | 87.60 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 2,367 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Ipswich, MA were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 1 | Cold: | 10 | Dense Fog: | 0 | Drought: | 10 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 239 | Hail: | 526 | Heat: | 1 | Heavy Snow: | 79 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 3 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 57 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 983 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 0 | Winter Storm: | 15 | Winter Weather: | 4 |
| Other: | 439 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Ipswich, MA.
Historical Earthquake Events
A total of 2 historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Ipswich, MA.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Depth (km) | Latitude | Longitude |
| 12.2 | 1963-10-16 | 4.5 | 20 | 42.5 | -70.8 |
| 46.6 | 1979-07-28 | 3.5 | 11 | 43.29 | -70.44 |
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 27 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Ipswich, MA.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 12.2 | 1951-08-21 | 2 | 42°42'N / 71°08'W | 42°46'N / 70°58'W | 9.30 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Essex |
| 12.5 | 1956-11-21 | 2 | 42°48'N / 71°00'W | 0.80 Mile | 17 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Essex | |
| 13.3 | 1958-08-25 | 2 | 42°32'N / 71°00'W | 1.00 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Middlesex | |
| 16.7 | 2006-05-21 | 2 | 42°55'N / 70°51'W | 42°55'N / 70°51'W | 0.10 Mile | 20 Yards | 0 | 2 | 3K | 0 | Rockingham |
| Brief Description: A small, but rather intense, tornado touched down on Interstate 95 about two miles south of the Hampton Toll Booths in the town of Hampton Falls. While several funnel clouds were observed over southeastern New Hampshire that Sunday evening, the actual tornado touched down just as one of the funnel clouds approached I-95. The tornado then lifted off the ground about 100 yards after crossing I-95. The most significant damage was to a truck parked along the side of the highway. The trucked was lifted off the ground briefly by the tornado, thrown about 10 feet, landed on the passenger side, and then rolled 1 1/4 times ending up on its roof. Two men were in the truck at the time and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. After interviews with the occupants and eyewitness reports which indicated that the vehicle was lifted into the air, the tornado intensity was classified as F2 on the Fujita scale. These reports were consistent with the ground-based assessment. | |||||||||||
| 19.3 | 1951-08-21 | 2 | 42°50'N / 71°08'W | 42°54'N / 71°04'W | 4.90 Miles | 67 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Rockingham |
| 20.5 | 1974-09-29 | 3 | 42°36'N / 71°14'W | 42°37'N / 71°12'W | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Middlesex | ||
| 21.4 | 1953-06-09 | 3 | 42°58'N / 70°58'W | 1.50 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 5 | 25K | 0 | Rockingham | |
| 22.5 | 1961-07-02 | 2 | 42°50'N / 71°16'W | 42°46'N / 71°12'W | 5.10 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250K | 0 | Rockingham |
| 26.0 | 1965-08-28 | 2 | 42°42'N / 71°20'W | 2.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Middlesex | |
| 27.1 | 1958-07-11 | 2 | 42°30'N / 71°18'W | 1.50 Miles | 17 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Middlesex | |
| 28.2 | 1972-07-21 | 2 | 42°41'N / 71°25'W | 42°35'N / 71°20'W | 7.60 Miles | 37 Yards | 0 | 4 | 2.5M | 0 | Middlesex |
| 29.4 | 1957-06-19 | 2 | 43°06'N / 70°48'W | 0.20 Mile | 77 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Rockingham | |
| 31.7 | 1976-05-03 | 2 | 43°08'N / 70°51'W | 1.00 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Strafford | |
| 36.4 | 1963-06-09 | 2 | 43°00'N / 71°30'W | 42°52'N / 71°24'W | 10.00 Miles | 77 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Hillsborough |
| 36.6 | 1970-10-03 | 3 | 42°33'N / 71°32'W | 42°34'N / 71°31'W | 1 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Middlesex | ||
| 39.2 | 1956-11-21 | 2 | 42°10'N / 71°10'W | 0.10 Mile | 17 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Norfolk | |
| 40.8 | 1963-05-14 | 2 | 43°16'N / 70°50'W | 43°16'N / 70°50'W | 0.50 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | York |
| 42.1 | 2008-07-24 | 2 | 43°09'N / 71°18'W | 43°13'N / 71°16'W | 5.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 1 | 2 | 0K | 0K | Rockingham |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: An E-F2 tornado touched down about 5 miles southwest of Northwood Narrows and moved north northeast for a little over 5 miles before crossing into Merrimack County. Numerous trees were downed and many homes were damaged or destroyed. A woman was killed when the house she was in collapsed. EPISODE NARRATIVE: On July 24th a closed 500 mb low was digging over NY/PA and waves of surface low pressure were riding north along the associated surface front to the west of the forecast area. A strong 50kt low level jet was also riding northward ahead of the front. This resulted in extremely high helicity values across southern and central New Hampshire. A surface dew point boundary was in place across south central New Hampshire with readings in the lower 70s to the east of this boundary and in the mid 60s to the west. Sunshine began breaking out to the east of this boundary by mid morning and convection began developing by late morning. Storms grew rapidly and quickly began rotating. A tornado rated as strong as F2 cut a 50 mile path through 5 counties in southeast New Hampshire resulting in 1 fatality and damage to over 100 structures some of which were completely destroyed. | |||||||||||
| 42.3 | 1963-05-14 | 2 | 43°18'N / 71°00'W | 43°16'N / 70°50'W | 8.20 Miles | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Strafford |
| 43.9 | 1963-05-20 | 2 | 42°24'N / 71°36'W | 0.30 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Worcester | |
| 45.4 | 2008-07-24 | 2 | 43°13'N / 71°16'W | 43°17'N / 71°15'W | 5.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Merrimack |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: An E-F2 tornado moving north northeast out of Rockingham County crossed into Merrimack County near Route 202 and continued north northeast a little over 5 miles before entering Belknap County. Homes and buildins in the tornadoes path sustained damage along the path which was up to a half mile wide. EPISODE NARRATIVE: On July 24th a closed 500 mb low was digging over NY/PA and waves of surface low pressure were riding north along the associated surface front to the west of the forecast area. A strong 50kt low level jet was also riding northward ahead of the front. This resulted in extremely high helicity values across southern and central New Hampshire. A surface dew point boundary was in place across south central New Hampshire with readings in the lower 70s to the east of this boundary and in the mid 60s to the west. Sunshine began breaking out to the east of this boundary by mid morning and convection began developing by late morning. Storms grew rapidly and quickly began rotating. A tornado rated as strong as F2 cut a 50 mile path through 5 counties in southeast New Hampshire resulting in 1 fatality and damage to over 100 structures some of which were completely destroyed. | |||||||||||
| 47.6 | 1953-06-09 | 3 | 42°03'N / 71°14'W | 42°03'N / 71°12'W | 0 | 1 | 2.5M | 0 | Bristol | ||
| 48.5 | 1956-11-21 | 2 | 42°24'N / 71°42'W | 0.10 Mile | 17 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Worcester | |
| 48.5 | 1963-05-20 | 2 | 42°24'N / 71°42'W | 1.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Worcester | |
| 49.0 | 1999-07-06 | 2 | 43°20'N / 71°11'W | 43°20'N / 71°11'W | 2.00 Miles | 250 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Strafford |
| Brief Description: Severe thunderstorm winds caused damage statewide as downed trees blocked roads and caused power outages. The winds also damaged several buildings. In Sanbornton, a 60 foot pine tree fell on a car killing the driver. An F2 tornado touched down in Pittsfield, moved through Barnstead, and then into Strafford before lifting off the ground, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees, and damaging several homes. In Lebanon, a 50 x 70 ft section of the City Hall's copper roof was peeled back by the wind. In Hanover, a portion of a roof at Dartmouth College was blown off by the wind. In Claremont, the wind ripped the roof off a bandstand. The wind left 80,000 customers without electrical service statewide. Numerous trees were reported down in towns throughout the state and numerous roads throughout the state were closed. The heavy rain that accompanied the thunderstorms caused some of the small rivers and streams to rise rapidly. In Lincoln, two brothers swimming in the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River were swept away by the rapidly rising water; one of the boys was bounced down the river for about a quarter mile before grabbing hold of a rock in the water. A 14-tear-old boy was injured in Piermont when lightning struck nearby and entered the cabin through electrical wires. Lightning also caused fires in several homes and buildings. | |||||||||||
| 49.1 | 1967-11-18 | 2 | 41°58'N / 70°54'W | 0.10 Mile | 17 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Plymouth | |
| 49.6 | 1953-06-09 | 3 | 42°06'N / 71°29'W | 42°03'N / 71°14'W | 13.10 Miles | 667 Yards | 0 | 15 | 2.5M | 0 | Norfolk |
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.