Storms Slam Some, Others Not Nearly As Hard Hit

All of the area saw rain at some point in the day on Tuesday. That said, some were hit much harder than others. In Atkinson, the weather wasn't extreme at all. While the rumbles of thunder were distinct and we saw some heavy rain, we only managed to pick up a little over a third of an inch during the afternoon. Conversely, just over the Massachusetts border in Methuen, the rain was torrential for an hour or two. This lead to lots of ponding on the roadways, and even some minor flooding of poor drainage areas. Doppler radar estimates (as shown in the graphic on the right) at least 1.5" of rain fell from Lowell to Methuen; much of that fell over the course of a couple of hours.

More significantly, doppler radar estimates that 5" to 7" (pink and dark red shading on the graphic to the right) of rain fell in portions of central Massachusetts over the course of just a few hours! This was due to thunderstorms that "trained" over these areas, or moved over these areas repeatedly. While doppler radar estimates are just that - estimates - they appear to be verifying. A weather spotter from Grafton, Massachusetts reported to the weather service in Taunton that 5.41" fell there today. In Westborough, Massachusetts, 4.82" was reported. This torrential rain caused flooding from Burlington, Massachusetts, where both sides of Rt. 128 were flooded, to Worcester and Shrewsbury, where several roads were impassible.

Even though flooding rains were the major issue, some of the storms were hailers. Quarter sized (1") hail was reported in Hudson and Nashua, New Hampshire, and Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. Tim Kelley passed this picture of the hail along, taken by Thomas Costello in Nashua this afternoon. Tim also says that today is the 12th day of the past 13 that hail and flooding has occurred in New England. Amazing stuff.