Quite the volital weather situation we had going this afternoon. We’ve said it a million times: We NEED the rain… but it’s not good when it comes along with severe weather. We had some strong and severe storms roll through the area today, knocking down trees and powerlines. One area hit very hard was Plaistow, NH. This picture from @MusicWebb on Twitter of a tree down in Plaistow: 
We’ve seen many reports of damage, but we can’t say what the damage was caused by (micro-burst, thunderstorm downburst, possible tornado) until the National Weather Service sends someone out to survey the damage. It will be interesting to see if they do, and what they come up with. Haverhill, some 5 miles away also saw some of that damage. IF the NWS sends someone out to investigate, they’ll be looking for the amount of damage done, and also what the damage looks like: Are all of the trees knocked down in the same direction? Or is there noticeable rotation? These are some of the questions they will need to answer. Pictured below is the velocity scan from that area just after 3pm today. Green colors would indicate wind moving TOWARD the radar site, and red colors indicate wind moving AWAY FROM the radar site. It’s possible that there was a low grade tornado here, but more likely that it was a microburst. We were watching the velocity scans from all over today very closely to indicate where the strongest winds were with these storms… so when you see that green/red crazy graphic next time we do severe weather coverage, it’s not a Christmas graphic – it’s serious wind that we’re tracking. 
We didn’t have any Tornado Warnings in Massachusetts today, thank goodness. However, I still want to make the point that stright-line winds can be just as dangerous/damaging as some tornadoes. So, whether it’s a Tornado Warning or a Severe Thunderstorm Warning – BOTH need to be taken seriously. Remember, a “Watch” means “conditions are favorable, so we need to watch out.” A “Warning” means, “ACT NOW. TAKE COVER.” Warnings need to always be taken seriously. While we LOVE all of the pictures and videos that our viewers send in, please don’t risk your health/safety to get them!
The Severe Thunderstorm WATCH is still up through 8pm this evening. That means we’ll still need to remain vigilant. Our storms today were caused by a pre-frontal trough, but there’s still a cold front to move through this evening. That means that the potential is still there for showers/thunderstorms through this evening. While I do think that some of those storms could be strong, hopefully the first round of storms has stabilized the air enough so that we won’t see more severe storms tonight. Again, we love the rain! But we don’t want anymore trees knocked down!
This cold front is KEY to our forecast. Highs today were in the mid-90s for most! Tomorrow, closer to 80° for highs and MUCH lower humidity. Enjoy it… for a couple of days. The heat builds back in by the end of the week, and we may even see a “heat wave!” Yikes.