BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

New Boston, Massachusetts

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Sandisfield town. It lies in ZIP code area 01255. It stands on Clam River. The Survey maps it on the Tolland Center quadrangle.

New Boston within Berkshire County

Then and now

1888 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of New Boston, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of New Boston, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

39 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires nearby

8 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of New Boston between 2015 and 2019, burning about 26 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Smoking1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
21 July 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 May 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 April 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 April 2015Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 April 2016Debris and open burning5.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 April 2016Smoking1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 March 2016Debris and open burning10 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 January 2016Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 607 shown

Museums hold 607 specimens collected within 10 miles of New Boston between 1873 and 1974: 376 Plantae, 157 Fungi, 72 Animalia, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & A. C. Seymour, A. Pealey and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Botrychium lanceolatum, not of this specimenBotrychium lanceolatum (S.G.Gmel.) Ångstr.1873S. M. Piper
A photograph of the species Eleusine indica, not of this specimenEleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.1874Frederick N. Pease
A photograph of the species Gentianella quinquefolia, not of this specimenGentianella quinquefolia subsp. quinquefolia1875not recorded
A photograph of the species Botrychium dissectum, not of this specimenBotrychium dissectum Spreng.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Balansia hypoxylon, not of this specimenBalansia hypoxylon (Peck) G.F.Atk.1882A. B. Seymour
A photograph of the species Bryum caespiticium, not of this specimenBryum caespiticium Hedw.1883unknownGranville
A photograph of the species Ceratodon purpureus, not of this specimenCeratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid.1883unknownGranville
A photograph of the species Chordeiles minor, not of this specimenChordeiles minor minor (J.R.Forster, 1771)1883Collector(s): H. C. Johnsonnear New Marlboro
A photograph of the species Cladonia P.Browne, not of this specimenCladonia P.Browne, 17561883A. B. SeymourGranville
Baeomyces roseus Pers.1895George T. MooreChestnut Hill
A photograph of the species Hypomyces hyalinus, not of this specimenHypomyces hyalinus (Schwein.) Tul. & C.Tul.1897Hollis Webster
A photograph of the species Mytilidion karstenii, not of this specimenMytilidion karstenii Sacc.1897Thaxter, R.Chestnut Hill

All 607 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms nearby

6 since 2007

The National Weather Service names New Boston in 6 storm reports between 2007 and 2021: 1 heavy rain, 1 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2020Tornado (EF0)New Boston$9,000A National Weather Service survey team concluded that a weak, narrow, but relatively long tornado occurred during the evening on Sunday, August 2 in western Massachusetts. It began in the southeast part of Sandisfield just west of south Main Street in Berkshire County just before crossing into Hampden County at Tolland Road (see StormData for Massachusetts, Central and East) after just 0.25 miles. The tornado continued for a total path length of 7.8 miles with a maximum path width of 100 yards. In Sandisfield, some tree damage was observed on Carpenter Lane and on South Main street at and just north of the Mile 4 marker. A home there had its upper window blown in, shingles ripped off, and the portico was lifted upward, enabling the supporting post to be shifted outward. Some corn stalks were flattened and a neighbor's fence was blown down. The EF-scale rating was EF-0, with estimated maximum wind speeds of 80 mph.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindNew Boston-A tree was downed across Route 8 southeast of the Town of Sandisfield.
July 2012HailNew Boston-Half-dollar size (measured) hail was reported during a thunderstorm at the New Boston General Store in New Boston.
August 2011FloodNew Boston-Moderate flooding occurred on the West Branch Farmington River which resulted in numerous reports of roads flooded with wash outs in Otis and Sandisfield including but not limited to Route 57 and Route 8.||The New Boston river gage located on left bank 5 feet downstream from highway bridge, 0.3 miles downstream from Clam River, 1 mile south of New Boston exceeded its 8 foot flood stage at 5:22 am EST August 28th, its 10 foot moderate flood stage 7:54 am, crested at 10.96 feet at 10:30 am, and fell below flood stage at 12:38 am August 29th. ||Initially started out as flash flooding then transitioned to river flooding.
August 2011Flash FloodNew Boston-Moderate flooding occurred on the West Branch Farmington River which resulted in numerous reports of roads flooded with wash outs in Otis and Sandisfield including but not limited to Route 57 and Route 8.||The New Boston river gage located on left bank 5 feet downstream from highway bridge, 0.3 miles downstream from Clam River, 1 mile south of New Boston exceeded its 8 foot flood stage at 5:22 am EST August 28th, its 10 foot moderate flood stage 7:54 am, crested at 10.96 feet at 10:30 am, and fell below flood stage at 12:38 am August 29th.||Initially started out as flash flooding then transitioned to river flooding.
April 2007Heavy RainNew Boston-Heavy rain and snowmelt led to minor flooding of small streams and creeks across Berkshire County, beginning Monday morning on the 16th, and ending early Tuesday morning on the 17th.|Minor flooding of low lying, poor drainage areas and roadways led to some road closures. In addition, minor flooding occurred on the West Branch of the Farmington River at New Boston, which crested at 9.23 feet at 08:30 EST on the 16th, and fell back below the flood stage of 8 feet by 18:52 EST on the 16th.

Every storm recorded in Berkshire County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Roosterville1.0 miles39
West New Boston1.2 miles39
Montville3.2 miles38
Sandisfield3.8 miles38
Cold Spring4.2 miles37
Konkapot4.7 miles38
South Sandisfield4.8 miles38
East Otis5.9 miles37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608074. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.