7/11/06 DISC: NH / MA

[Miriam Lawrence]

While minor by Great Plains standards, some pretty intense severe weather hit the Northeast yesterday, including near record-sized hail in New Hampshire and reports of funnel clouds and tornado warnings on the North Shore of Massachussetts.

I was sitting in the waiting room at Logan Airport in Boston through some of these storms, which mostly remained to the west and north of the airport. Saw one of the most beautiful glowing green storms I've ever witnessed, followed by what I'm pretty sure was a curtain of hail falling far a few miles away across the tarmac.

This news report contains some good amateur footage of the hailstorm that hit Exeter, NH where 3" hail did significant damage to a large number of houses and vehicles.

http://cbs4boston.com/topstories/local_story_192134204.html

The area looks to be under the gun again today.

 

[Eric Flescher]

More about the Mass storms from the Boston Globe.

Storm leaves Wendell with damage, no power

July 11, 2006

WENDELL, Mass. --Two tornadoes reportedly touched down in this small rural town Tuesday, as severe storms moved across Massachusetts. No injuries were reported.

The first tornado hit at about 3 p.m., said state police Trooper Michael Willhite at Athol. The second came about 90 minutes later, he said.

The National Weather Service said it could not immediately confirm tornadoes.

Hail, strong winds and rain downed power and telephone lines, said Trooper Steven Jankowski, who was in Wendell.

"It's a big mess as far as power and phone lines go," said Jankowski. He said there were no reports of damage to homes.

Debbie Drew, a spokeswoman for National Grid said 370 customers in Wendell had lost power.

Wendell, a Franklin County town with a population of just under 1,000 people, is about 10 miles north of the Quabbin Reservoir.

William Babcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said thunderstorms with large hail and strong winds were reported throughout Franklin, Hampshire, Worcester and Essex counties.

The storm concentrated on areas near the Massachusetts border with New Hampshire and along the Route 2 corridor.

In eastern Massachusetts, storms also caused downed trees and flooded streets.

Baseball-sized hail dented cars in Marblehead, and homes in Somerville and Woburn caught fire after being hit by lightning. There was no serious damage caused by the fires.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for eastern Essex County when a funnel cloud was spotted near Topsfield but no tornado was reported.
© Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

The source of the Franklin County, MA damage has been confirmed to be a combination of an F2 (borderline F3!) tornado and an F1-strength microburst. I was monitoring the radar as this event was unfolding and was pretty shocked that they never issued a warning for this storm, even though it exhibited impressive Base Reflectivity and Velocity signatures for several scans. According to the damage survey, the tornado was strong enough to lower the water level of 32 acre (per EPA) pond by 6 to 8 inches!!

BASED UPON THE DAMAGE SURVEY...INTERVIEWS WITH EYEWITNESSES AND
DOPPLER RADAR DATA...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED A COMBINATION
OF STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE AND A TORNADO...WHICH HAS BEEN RATED AS
A STRONG F2 WITH WIND SPEEDS NEAR 155 MPH. [/b]

PNSBOX 12/2316 --> "MICROBURST AND F2 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN WENDELL MASSACHUSETTS"