A rare northeastern tornado watch is in effect until 800PM Eastern Time for the risk of a few strong thunderstorms spinning up some tornadoes. As of 307PM, there is one tornado warning in effect already, with more expected as the storms fire up and become more intense during the afternoon.
I'm doing a liveblog today not because of the expectation of a massive tornado outbreak, but rather the possibility of small tornadoes hitting extremely heavily populated areas. There is about 35 million people in this watch right now, and sadly most of them won't know about it until the storm is right there.
Keep dickish and political cracks out of here or you'll get hidden, count on it.
The newest updates will appear at the top of the diary, below the fold.
Updates
Update 15 818PM Eastern
Just a few severe thunderstorm warnings in the Boston/eastern Mass. area now. You can expect large hail, strong winds and a ton of lightning and rain in these storms. The best thing you can do is stay away from windows, don't use water or landline phones, and wait for it to pass.
Here's a satellite pic from the College of DuPage, showing the high cloud tops with these storms even more dramatically now that the sun is setting.
Update 14 801PM Eastern
My apologies for disappearing for a while. And thanks to the higher-ups for putting this in the Feature Box. Appreciate it. :)
The tornado watch in eastern Massachusetts has been extended until 1100 PM, or at least until this last line of storms moves through out ahead of the cold front.
Here's what's in Massachusetts right now, some strong thunderstorms moving from the west to the east, and will impact the eastern half of the state within the next few hours. Nothing is tornadic at the moment, but these storms could spin up with little to no notice, as we've seen several times today.
Update 13 532PM Eastern
TWC reports cars overturned on I-84 in Sturbridge due to a confirmed tornado.
Update 12 523PM Eastern
Debris still very visible on radar as it goes through the populated areas in Sturbridge, MA. Moving east towards Oxford. Take shelter if you live in southern MA.
Update 11 508PM Eastern
Debris ball on radar indicating a tornado on the ground with debris in the air, moving east towards Fiskdale, Sturbridge, Southbridge, Oxford and Webster MA.
Update 10 505PM Eastern
Tornado warning for a ton of counties in Central Mass right now, two individual storms capable of producing tornadoes. The southernmost one produced the tornado in Springfield (seen in prev. updates), and a new rotation going towards Spencer, Worcester, Woodville and surrounding areas in Massachusetts.
Update 9 444PM Eastern
Picture of building damage from the WWLP Springfield MA after a tornado touched down in the center of town along the Connecticut River.
More screenshots of the WWLP tower cam as the tornado crossed the river:
Update 8 438PM Eastern
Large tornado on the ground in Springfield, MA, spotted on Tower Cam from WWLP. Live stream. The tornado has lifted, but it keeps lifting and touching down again.
Here are some screenshots from the WWLP live stream tower cam:
Update 7 433PM Eastern
Tornado warning for Worcester, Hampden and Hampshire counties in MA, as well as Hartford, Tolland, and Windham Counties in CT until 515. The storm is moving east at 40 MPH.
A tornado is on the ground near Springfield, MA. It has been spotted on tower cameras. Seek shelter IMMEDIATELY.
Update 6 412PM Eastern
I can't get over the hook in this storm in MAINE. Communities northwest and north of Augusta will be impacted by this extremely dangerous storm. This storm has a very high chance of producing a tornado.
Update 5 407PM Eastern
Tornado warning reissued for Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts until 445 PM. Golf ball sized hail has been reported in Northampton.
Locations impacted include, but are not limited to, Cooks Corner, Highland Glen Estates, Belchertown, South Quabbin Villa, Dwight, Westwood Hills, Camp Kinneywood, Salisbury Heights, Tatnuck, West Tatnuck, Westchester, North Worcester, and Northville.
Update 4 350PM Eastern
Tornado warning for Androscoggin, Kennebec and Oxford Counties in Maine until 415PM. Still amazed at the midwest-ish structure of this storm.
This radar image shows the wind velocities in the storm, with red moving north and green moving south.
Here's a crappy diagram I made, showing what the storm is doing using the wind velocities. The storm is breathing in on the right, and exhaling on the left. Once the upper-level rotation translates to the ground (tornado), it can start to look like a fish hook. That's what's happening here, and the (possible) tornado is in between those two, denoted by the yellow triangle.
Update 3 338PM Eastern
Tornado warning for Aroostook, Penosbscot, Piscataquis Counties in Maine until 400PM.
Locations impacted include Pine Knoll, The Crossing, Moosehorn Crossing, Oxbow, Knowles Corner, Pride, Hawkins, Griswold, Blackwater, Howe Brook, Little Canada, Weeksboro, Hillman and Shorey.
Update 2 331PM Eastern
Tornado warning for Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire Counites in central Massachusetts until 400PM.
Radar:
Cities in Path & Arrival Times:
Update 1 325PM Eastern
What the hell? This storm should be in Kansas, not Maine. Tornado warning for this extremely well organized supercell for Oxford County, ME. Bethel is in the path of the strongest rotation. The tornado would be at the edge of the fish hook near Gilead, moving east.
Watches & Explanation
In addition to the severe thunderstorm watches covering much of the east from Charlottesville VA to Maine, this is the tornado watch area with the potential for the worst weather. I'll only cover the tornado warnings in this diary, and I'll show you detailed radar images and try to walk you through it the best I can. The reason I'm going to try to do this is because I know most people in the northeast aren't familiar with radar images when things get bad, unless you watch the Weather Channel or read the other liveblogs during the midwest/south outbreaks.
Remember, a tornado WATCH means that conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes in any storms that develop. A tornado WARNING means that the weather radar detects strong rotation within a thunderstorm that could produce a tornado, or that a tornado has been spotted on the ground in the warned area. Usually it's the former, but it's still serious.
The following counties in red are under a tornado WATCH. I'll do my best to post tornado warnings in the updates above. Stay tuned to the NWS, SPC, and your local media for the most updated information.
Regional NWS Offices
NWS Washington DC/Baltimore
NWS Philadelphia
NWS Binghamton
NWS New York City
NWS Boston
NWS Gray/Portland Maine
NWS Caribou Maine