Whoa!

This is the National Weather Service weather alert issued at 11:02 a.m. today:

…SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE IN PARTS OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING

THERE IS A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN INTERIOR SOUTHERN NEW
ENGLAND THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE MOST LIKELY FORM OF DAMAGING
WEATHER WILL BE STRONG STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS…WITH SMALLER
CHANCES OF LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY A TORNADO. THE BEST CHANCE FOR
THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE IN NORTHWEST MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHWEST NEW
HAMPSHIRE…WITH A SMALLER CHANCE IN NORTHERN CONNECTICUT…NORTHWEST
RHODE ISLAND…CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS…AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEW
HAMPSHIRE. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOST LIKELY BETWEEN 2 PM AND 8 PM.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAUSED BY STRONG HEATING OF HUMID UNSTABLE
AIR…AS WELL AS THE COLLISION OF THAT HUMID UNSTABLE AIR WITH COOLER
AIR BLOWING IN FROM THE EAST.

We do get tornadoes here, usually little F1 jobbies that last 20 or 30 seconds and wipe out someone’s roof or tool shed, or knock down a line of trees, that sort of thing. The last time we had an F5 was 1953 when the tornado went through Worcester. We had some strong storms go through last night, a cracking good thunderstorm went straight through Pepperell which is unusual. We’ve been having a lot of thunderstorms the last week or so! Oddly, it hasn’t been all that hot.