Thousands lose power after thunderstorms roll by Powerful thunderstorms rolled across Massachusetts Thursday, leaving thousands without power and bringing hail and wind damage, including to areas devastated by several tornadoes last week, officials said.
Hail that was 1.5 inches in diameter was reported by Montague and Shutesbury residents in Franklin County and .88-inch-diameter hail was seen by a weather spotter in Westfield, where large branches were down, according to preliminary local storm reports on the National Weather Service�s website.
Wind gusts reached 70 miles per hour and knocked down trees in many towns including Longmeadow, West Springfield, and Wayland, according to the weather service in Taunton.
Shortly before 6 p.m., more than 38,000 people had lost power, including 21,530 National Grid customers, 17,202 with Western Massachusetts Electric Co. , and 9,000 NStar users.
Storms Leave Thousands in the Dark A line of severe storms moved through Connecticut Thursday afternoon, knocking out power to tens of thousands.
At the height of the storm, more than 130,000 Connecticut Light & Power customers were without power. Another 12,000 United Illuminating customers were in the dark.
The areas hardest hit were Bristol, Vernon, Middletown, Suffield, Enfield and Shelton.
The storms dropped golf-ball-sized hail in Norfolk, and hail was also reported in Colebrook and Winsted. In addition to hail, those in the path of the storms should expect heavy rain, high winds and vivid lightning.
I love all the morons who are blaming all this weather on Global Warming.
What is triggering these storms as well as what triggered the midwest's tornados was colder than normal weather. You get a hot layer near the ground and a higher cold layer and you will get intense storms of one kind or another.
Joe Bastardi brings home the bacon: