Overnight tornadoes are rare for New England but we had two last night and the strength of each tornado equally impressive….EF-1. The National Weather Service usually goes out to survey storm damage to determine whether the storm caused a tornado or straight-lined wind damage..
But based on the radar data at the time of the storm it was clear this was certainly a tornado. Check out the radar image obtained from my colleague Jackie Layer this morning…
That lower panel of data (the red and green color table) shows velocity data inside a supercell thunderstorm and in this case focus your eyes to the region just left and low of Upton-West Upton town marker. See the bright green color right up against the red color? That is rotation–strong rotation–inside the thunderstorm, a clear indication of a tornado. This was the second of two tornadoes that descended out of the supercell thunderstorm. the first was farther south near Douglas and traveled nearly 5 miles before retreating back into the cloud.
While there was extensive damage in Douglas and Upton, there were no injuries (similar outcome with the Revere tornado a few years back)! No tornadoes tonight but we still have a lot of humidity as the showers and downpours moving through late this afternoon did not bring dry air into New England.
For that, we’ll have to contend with another front the next couple of days. That front is located across Michigan and Indiana this evening and will crawl across New York state tomorrow and then into New England on Saturday. That means a mix of clouds and sun both days with an isolated shower/storm tomorrow evening (due to front being so far away) and scattered storms on Saturday afternoon (front right on top of us). Some great weather for the beaches, pools, lakes tomorrow and so-so for Saturday as more clouds and a higher chance of soeme storms may foul up some plans. In any event, outstanding weather is slated for Sunday-Tuesday of next week as we finally shake this humidity…for a few days anyway. ;o)
~JR