A small tornado touched down in a central Massachusetts community but caused no injuries during a wild day of weather as forecasters say the storm should clear to start the work week.
According to the National Weather Service, sometime around 11 a.m. a tornado was spotted by several eyewitnesses though none reported seeing the “funnel” that comes along with severe storms.
“We can confirm an EF-0 tornado in North Brookfield, MA. (Two) mile path length. Only damage to trees in the area. Occurred just before 11 a.m.,” the National Weather Service said via Twitter.
Push-message delivered dire warning of impending twisters woke many residents across the state Sunday morning,
“Tornado warning in this area,” cell phones across the Merrimack Valley and elsewhere screamed after 8 a.m. “Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.”
Despite the seemingly impending wrath of Mother Nature, the warning was canceled for most of the state by 10 a.m. with little effect except for more rain on top of already wet lawns and gardens. Flood watches and warnings held through most of the day and were extended into the early morning hours of Monday.
The region should receive a few days of respite from recent weeks of seemingly endless rain before the potential for wet weather returns just in time for the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
“It will be much drier, but still hot and humid for much of the week,” Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the NWS, told the Herald.
“Basically, tomorrow gets dried out. Mostly sunny, going to be warm and humid, highs in the upper 80s,” he said.
Tuesday should be more of the same, Dunham said, just as humid and just as warm, with potential for temperatures in the upper 80s.
Clouds will begin to roll in Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning bringing a slight chance of overnight rain and “partly cloudy to mostly sunny” weather that remains in the mid to upper 80s.
After that there may be more rain.
“Thursday, partly sunny, with just a chance of a shower with highs in the lower 80s” he said. “Then Friday, mostly cloudy, chance of a shower, highs in the lower 80s.”
Weeks of storms have led to Boston being just three-quarters of an inch shy of its normal average rainfall for this point in the year, while Worcester, which has seen some of the heaviest rainfall, is seven-inches above average for this time of year.