Storms Strike in Massachusetts Again

It was another stormy day on Wednesday for some in New England. Once again, the Atkinson area and all of Southern New Hampshire/the Merrimack Valley escaped the strong storms. We did have a few downpours from time to time, but overall nothing big occurred here. It was the second severe weather day in a row for parts of central and eastern Massachusetts. On Tuesday, flooding rains were the big story. Today, hail, wind, and flooding all happened. However, the damage happened in a much more localized area, and it was only caused by one thunderstorm. The storm that developed was what we call a supercell - the strongest kind of thunderstorm. Often times, these storms have rotation to them, and if that rotation comes to the ground it results in a tornado. Doppler radar indicated that this storm was rotating near Hopkinton, Massachusetts just after 3 p.m. There was also a report that a trained weather spotter observed rotation of the storm - not a tornado or funnel cloud - in Grafton, Massachusetts. Consequently, the weather service issued a Tornado Warning until 3:45 p.m. for towns such as Hopkinton, Westborough, Grafton, and Upton, which were in the path of the storm. There were no actual reports of a funnel cloud or tornado in those areas. However, damage had been done. In and around Hopkinton, there were numerous reports of trees downed by wind, and hail piled a few inches deep. The National Weather Service sent a team to the scene to investigate. They determined that a tornado did not strike, but rather a microburst occurred.