Memories are flooding back for people in western Massachusetts on the five year anniversary of when a deadly tornado touched down.
6 years after the 2011 Springfield tornado tore through western Massachusetts dramatic new satellite imagery captures the damage path covered in fresh snow.
The deadly tornado occurred touched down on June 1, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. in Westfield, MA. The tornado was on the ground for 39 miles and lasted over an hour before finally lifting in Southbridge, MA.
This satellite image was taken on Thursday, February 17th following the two snow storms that moved through the region. The satellite is called MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). It's a high resolution weather satellite that takes snapshots of earth every 1 to 2 days.
The satellite has a resolution of 250 meters - which is small enough to capture something as small as a tornado track. The satellite is the size of a small school bus and it orbits the earth 438 miles above our heads.
The weather satellite clearly depicts the scar that the tornado left just north of the Connecticut border. The 1/2 mile wide tornado tore apart forests and neighborhoods and today the damage to the trees throughout Hampden County is still visible even more than 400 miles above the earth's surface.
The destruction was widespread, hundred of homes and businesses were destroyed and three people were killed.
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These photos show what a home in Brimfield, MA looked like prior to the tornado and afterwards.
Before:
Aftermath:
