Severe Storms Bring Power Outages, Damage to New England Thursday Night

A thump of severe weather across New England Thursday brought tens of thousands of power outages to New England, along with other wind and hail damage. There were two main bursts of severe weather during the day across New England. A total of 32 severe thunderstorm warnings were active at one point or another across New England Thursday.

The first wave of storms came from the late morning through the early afternoon and affected mostly northern New England. Scattered tree damage reports across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine came in through the afternoon. Large hail of a half inch to inch and a half also fell across numerous communities. Hail fell for seven minutes in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

After this early burst of severe weather, another burst would move into southern New England in the late afternoon through the evening. The main cluster of storms associated with this burst moved through Connecticut, Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts. This burst was decidedly more intense than the earlier wave in northern New England. Widespread gusts of 50-70mph were seen across the area, which resulted in nearly 90,000 power outages at one point last night.

Tree damage in Milford, Connecticut. Photo by Milford Professional Firefighters

The storm picked up steam as it moved across Rhode Island and into southeast Massachusetts late in the evening. Widespread tree damage was seen across the South Shore and Cape Cod, along with some structural damage. In Fall River, a building that was under construction was reported to have had a portion of its facade collapse in the winds. The roof of another building was reported to be partially blown off.

Other buildings within the city also suffered damage. Fall River also saw some street flooding. Numerous trees and branches came down across all of southeast Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with multiple reports of damage to homes and cars. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, a tree limb crashed through a toddler's bedroom. The child was uninjured.

This storm also brought large hail to portions of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Half of 1 to 1.75 inches was reported across eastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island. Golf ball sized hail was reported to have destroyed a gazebo in Sterling. Like northern New England, hail fell for several minutes and coated the ground in some places.

This storm that moved across southernmost New England likely resulted in a wet microburst in Fall River. A wet microburst is basically a column of sinking air, usually from a weakening updraft and dying thunderstorm, that results in the core of rain, hail and wind that had been held within the storm to plummet to the ground. This results in a localized area of very intense winds and precipitation.

This would explain the large amount of damage in Fall River, as well as the localized flooding and intense rainfall in the city. The National Weather Service will likely investigate this damage and officially determine whether or not a microburst occurred and what the maximum winds were across the area.

Other severe weather reports include a structure that caught fire in Burlington, Massachusetts from a lightning strike. Wind and hail damage were reported across all six New England states. Overall, severe weather was a bit more widespread than initially anticipated yesterday morning. While moisture and instability were marginal, strong forcing allowed for storms to strengthen while deep shear allowed for storms to strengthen. Despite initially being marginal, enough instability was also able to build to allow for scattered severe weather.

Below: All storm reports from yesterday that have come in as of 8am Friday: