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- Another Round of Severe Weather Impacts New England; Tornado Confirmed in Connecticut
One day after a severe weather outbreak in New England, another round of potent thunderstorms moved across New England Saturday evening. Damage reports were very similar to what they were on Thursday, with straight-line wind damage, power outages, lightning and a tornado. A strong cold front swept through New England in the evening. A severe weather outbreak was not as certain as it was on Thursday, and this event began very slowly, with most storms failing to reach severe status in the afternoon and early evening. By 7pm, the storms began to pick up strength as they dropped through central Massachusetts and Connecticut. Just before 7:30pm, a tornado warning was issued for a rotating storm near Mansfield, Connecticut. The rotation of the storm became more pronounced on radar by the minute, and by 7:40pm, the National Weather Service announced a radar-confirmed tornado near Chaplin, Connecticut. A radar-confirmed tornado occurs when there is a very strong signal of a tornado on radar, but an actual storm spotter on the ground has yet to visually confirm one in person. The tornado dissipated before a trained storm spotter could verify it, but the National Weather Service did receive photo and video reports of the storm. The National Weather Service will be surveying damage from Chaplin to Killingly to determine details about this tornado, including strength. Damage reports from the area, as well as across New England included many trees, branches and wires down from strong winds. About 22,000 customers lost power across New England yesterday evening, eclipsing the number seen during Thursday’s outbreak. Another tornado warning was issued just after 8:30pm for the area near Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This warning was canceled before its 9pm end time. The National Weather Service will be surveying this area as well. No tornado has been confirmed in this warning. The south shore and much of Cape Cod was under a large severe thunderstorm warning for hours yesterday evening. Flooding and lightning was also an issue with these storms. The Boston Metro area saw numerous flash floods. The city, and much of northeast Massachusetts were under a flash flood warning all evening long. After two severe weather outbreaks in three days, the region will be getting a reprieve from the active weather. The air behind the cold front has settled in and will provide New England with cooler, comfortable air for much of this week with generally quiet weather through at least mid week.
- Cold Front to Bring Another Round of Storms, End of Heat on Saturday
As per usual in New England, intense heat and humidity will be coming to an end at the hands of a cold front. This front will set up very nice weather heading into next week, but in order to get there, we have to get through another round of thunderstorms on Saturday. This cold front will be sagging through New England all day. Due to the timing of the front, there will likely be a decent temperature gradient (for summer) from far northern areas to far southern areas. Burlington, Vermont, despite only dropping into the upper 60s for a morning low, will only rise to the low 70s for a high. Hartford Connecticut will likely rise to the mid to upper 80s with a feels like temperature in the mid 90s. NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND The cold front will erupt a line of thunderstorms across the northern tier of New England late this morning and into the early afternoon. An area of low pressure will continue showers and perhaps some storms across northern Vermont for at least Saturday morning. Northern Maine, being further from the system, will likely see a dry day Saturday. Euro model showing storms around central New England early in the afternoon: From the White and Maine mountains southward, thunderstorms could begin erupting as early as late morning with scattered storms continuing through the rest of the afternoon. The overall set up is similar to Thursday, however, the bulk of the severe weather is expected to remain in southern New England this time around. Still, isolated strong thunderstorms are possible with the potential to bring heavy rain and gusty winds. An isolated tornado and hail are extremely unlikely, but not impossible given the set up. These storms and regular rain showers will likely continue to crop up through evening before the overall system slides south and east away from the area after sunset with drier conditions developing for the overnight. SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND Southern New England has one more hot and humid day to go on Saturday before widespread storms kick off. The overall setup is very similar to what the region saw on Thursday, with potentially similar impacts. I say “potentially” since there’s still quite a bit of range in models on just how widespread severe weather will be and where exactly the strongest storms will set up. While strong to severe storms will be possible across much of New England, generally, the further south you go, the higher the chances of seeing severe weather. Right now, the Storm Prediction Center has areas south of the Mass Pike with the best chance of severe weather. The biggest question mark will be if enough instability will be able to develop. A full fledged severe outbreak is not as certain as it was yesterday. A few storms will begin erupting in the morning, and some late morning storms could turn strong to severe. Storms will likely continue to grow in numbers throughout the afternoon. The number of storms and storm intensity may peak in the evening, but storms will likely be firing all day, so keep an eye to the sky if outdoors for the duration of the day. HRRR showing a possible peak in activity this evening: This will not be a “one line and then it’s over” kind of thunderstorm day. Some areas could see multiple rounds of storms move through during the day as multiple lines of storms move through. Not every area will see multiple storms, but some places very likely will. It won’t be raining all afternoon, there will be breaks between the storms. The threats for these storms in southern New England are basically the same as they were on Thursday. Torrential rain and flash flooding will be the biggest concern (flood watches may be posted later today) along with damaging straight line winds. Hail and tornadoes are also possible, but not to the extent of rainfall and straight line winds. BEYOND After this unsettled and stormy day, New England will be in for a quiet, generally sunny and much cooler day on Sunday. This cooler weather will be felt for much of next week. At least the first half of next week will be generally dry for most. There could be reinforcing shots of cool air for northern New England early next week. While all of the region is looking to be below average temperature wise, this will be felt the most across northern areas. As of now, it looks like southern New England will only be slightly below average, setting up a very nice stretch of weather.
- Tornado Confirmed in New Hampshire as Severe Weather Seen Across New England
As expected, a severe weather outbreak has occurred across southern and central New England this afternoon and evening. Storms began developing in the early afternoon across western areas; these storms quickly formed into a line and began tracking eastward, reaching the coast by mid-evening. An elevated tornado threat was expected across southern New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts in the early afternoon. Multiple storms were captured rotating across western areas, but only one tornado has been confirmed. A tornado warning was issued for Cheshire County, New Hampshire, near Keene, at 2:45pm. Just before 3pm, a storm spotter confirmed that a tornado was on the ground in Roxbury, New Hampshire. Just after 3pm, radar began detecting possible debris in the air. Storm reports from the area after the tornado mentioned numerous trees and branches down, as well as power lines in Keene, Dublin and Marlborough, New Hampshire. The National Weather Service is on site and investigating damage to determine the tornado’s strength. They are reportedly investigating “severe” damage at the Dublin School. This occurred at the northern end of the line of severe weather. Large blocks of severe weather were seen across western and Central Massachusetts as well as much of Connecticut. Storm reports from across this area mentioned numerous trees, branches and wires down. Westfield, Massachusetts was hit hard by straight line wind damage. The town has reported many trees down and roads closed. About 20,000 customers across the region lost power earlier this evening. This number is coming down quickly, however. Storms did move faster than anticipated, which limited flooding. Despite this, some reports of flooding did come in from across the region. Several reported of flooded roads came in from the Enfield, Connecticut area. A large flash flood warning was issued for portions of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Lightning struck a pole on a college building in Springfield. This strike is believed to be what started a fire in the building. The storms pushed all the way across New England, with an intense thunderstorm captured along the New Hampshire seacoast. By 8:15pm, all severe thunderstorm warnings had expired across the region, though thunderstorms were still working through Rhode Island.
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