Hello Summer!

So, as anyone in the area has noticed, the heat's back on, significantly warmer then the unseasonable heat we saw back on May 26th... and it's only going to get worse. Even though temperatures are going to be roughly what they were on Monday, the dew point is going to continue inching higher up, making it feel muggier, and much more oppressive. With temps expected to be close from 95-100, and dew points around 70, it'll feel as if it was over 100-105 in the shade, leading to a heat advisory for all of CT (except S New London County), and the surrounding area down to NYC and Nassau County for Tuesday from 11AM-7PM Tuesday.

Earlier, on Saturday and Sunday, where it was in the high 80's-low 90's, it felt cooler that due to dew points in the low 50's, maybe even 40's at times. We're not getting that luxury for the next few days.

It gets worse though considering that temperatures during the night hours aren't expected to drop down below comfortable levels. As of this writing, at midnight, Danbury Airport ASOS is reporting a temp of 73 F, and an oppressive dew point of 67 F. With that factored in, it actually feels a degree warmer then that, with an apparent temp (or heat index) of 74 F.

So what can you do during the day to help?

• Make sure that the AC is running when you're at home.
• A dehumidifier may help as well if it still feels warm around the house, even though the air itself is cool (but A/C's do indirectly act like a dehumidifier).
• Make sure to not run necessary devices (dryers, etc) during the peak hours (approximately noon to 8 PM), as this will help limit overstressing your local power grid/plants, and also possibly save you tripping a fuse or two throughout the day.
• Drink lots of water or power drinks. Avoid soda as these may actually dehydrate you.
• Remember your pets! They'll be dealing with the heat as bad as you, if not more so. Keep them watered and in the shade.
• If it's necessary to be outside in this weather, focus more on the early hours and very late in the afternoon, as temperatures will be lower, plus the sun won't beat down on you.

Sadly, this weather pattern is set to continue for a few days, with no real relief until a cold front approaches (currently expected around Saturday), so until then, keep cool and keep safe.

Footer Fun Fact: It's rare to see actual, raw temperatures this high in Connecticut. In fact, Bradley Airport has had 2 days over 100 F in the past decade (2001 and 2006). Last time it exceeded 100 F in July was all the way back in 1993.

It WAS a Tornado in Bridgeport on June 24th

A strong line of thunderstorms affected the south and western parts of Connecticut on the 24th (a quick look at my twitter, @Bleet shows just a hint of all the legwork I did that day). I kept a close eye as the system that ripped through and ravaged the greater Chicago area pushed its way quickly through our state of Connecticut, bringing in minor rain, and extremely high winds. What made it even worse was that there was already rotational wind shear in place, brought by air moving off of the Atlantic Ocean / Long Island Sound at the low level, fueling the system, and high level, high speed winds brought by the Jet stream. All that was needed was a force to lift that rotation vertically, and give us a tornado. Then, we finally got that updraft needed, and there was strong proof via radar that there is or will be a tornado. At 2:20 PM, a Tornado Warning was issued.

The National Weather Service surveyed the damage today, and about 27 hours after the event, the NWS confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in Bridgeport at approximately 2:30 PM. It was estimated to have winds at around 100 MPH (the fastest since a 125 MPH gust from Hurricane Bob in 1991), a 100 yard swath, and traveled only for 0.15 miles. At roughly that time, there was a 75 MPH gust at Sikorsky Airport in neighboring Stratford. Damage directly associated with the tornado was limited to a storefront's facade being stripped off, tree tops sheered off, windows blown in, and a peculiar piece of metal debris wrapped around a fire hydrant.

It honestly didn't surprise me that this storm did spawn a tornado, a bit a short lived. At 2:23, three minutes after the tornado warning was issued, this is what the base radical velocity looked like over Bridgeport. (Base Radical Velocity is watching the movement of precipitation, negative if it's moving towards the radar station, positive when moving away, RF [pink] aka Range Folding meaning the station can't determine which way it's moving if at all). If you look just North-East of Bridgeport, you'll see a notably large batch of precipitation moving one direction, and one sharp point where it's moving away embedded within it. That usually represents rotation, and it's moderately likely that a tornado may spawn. A mere five minutes later (below), it was gone as the main part of the cell moved over water.

This system devastated the area, downing numerous amounts of trees, collapsing a building in Bridgeport, and knocking out power to over 16,000 customers at its peak in just Bridgeport, Stratford, and Trumbull combined. Both Bridgeport and Stratford declared a state of emergency. It was so bad in Bridgeport that Governor Rell visited the area to inspect damage, and the city had to enact a curfew to ensure safety. Fortunately, as of this writing, there have not been any serious injuries involved with that storm that affected the area on the 24th. (The current NWS preliminary report states that there were three injuries associated with the tornado, but I have reason to believe that they aren't very severe, life threatening injuries.)

Video Footage of the Bridgeport EF1 tornado on June 26th, 2010

Despite all that, neighboring towns Fairfield, Easton and Trumbull only saw straight line wind damage, no proof of "twisting" that would show a tornado struck the area... but even then, they saw notable damage (Trumbull had approximately 3 thousand customers without power alone)... and yet, if you look at the eastern counties, they barely received any rain at all! Big difference across the state.

This was the first major storm of the summer, and the first confirmed tornado so far for 2010. Hopefully we won't have to deal with anything this substantial for the future.

Footer Fun Fact: The last time Bridgeport had a tornado was in 1876, almost 134 years ago. It was in Northern Bridgeport and had a swath of over 300 yards, triple of the width of the tornado on the 24th.

Macroburst in Massachusetts on June 6th

On June 6th, all eyes were on Connecticut as a potentially volatile, and strong system pushed through the area, even showing evidence strong enough that a tornado warning was issued in Hartford County. However, while that system was causing alarm in Connecticut, another system a mere 80 miles East caused something else entirely.

The National Weather Service released a report earlier Monday that Boston was just one community affected by a macroburst, between 3:45 and 4:30. The NWS further went on to estimate wind speeds caused by the event to be roughly 60 to 70 MPH, with isolated gusts exceeding 80 MPH. This is inline with reports from Logan Airport that had a 59 knot (~68 MPH) gust via ASOS (Automated Surface Observing System - a weather monitoring station).

Media reports from the area state that over 25,000 customers had their power knocked out, and mention a considerable number of trees downed within the Boston Metropolitan area, although an accurate total of damages has not been released. (WBZ-TV has an album showing storm damage from the area).

Rain, Wind, Hail, even Tornadoes? In Connecticut?

"Probable Rain, Wind, Hail, possible Tornado or Tornadoes" - That's what I feared would happen Sunday. There were so many things in place. Instability (1000-2000+ J/kg), very strong shear at such low levels (like 60 MPH winds under 12 miles), lift brought in by a notably dense cold front... You would expect these kinds of textbook setup along Tornado Alley, not here in Connecticut.

Instead, what we got today was considerably nicer (Well... "considerably nicer" compared to the alternative). So what killed it?

Let's start at the beginning of the day, specifically relating to sunshine. If you remember, there wasn't that much. Quite the opposite, it was mostly cloudy skies for the majority of the day until the storms blew over. This essentially lessened the instability that existed to begin the day. Very generally speaking, the more cloud cover, the less heating of the air. The cooler the air, the less the instability. That's one substantial problem.

Then there was wind shear, ironically. At lower heights, a strong wind can actually take storms that would remain mostly isolated, or with only a few moderate hotspots and instead propagate them, making it notably more uniform, more consistent and, generally speaking, stronger overall. Here's the kicker though: Although we had that low level wind in place, there were also strong winds further up which pushed against and severely hampered updrafts necessary to allow for hail and other highly directly damaging aspects of storms.

There were two notably apparent exception to this... In Massachusetts, at roughly 4:00 PM, one spot near Boston came under some unusually strong winds (60 MPH+!), possibly due to a downburst.
However, back in Connecticut, at roughly 2:30 PM, a storm system entered Litchfield County, already with some notable rotation in place. By 3:00, it intensified, leading to a Tornado Warning for most of Hartford County, due to strong proof from Doppler Radar.

The above is a picture showing wind speed estimated by movement of precipitation. (Click here or the image for the full view.) Look just ESE of Litchfield, where the green (-10, -20 kts) is directly against the oranges and dark red (+10, to +36 kts). That specific negative to positive gradient was rather persistent for upwards of a couple hours, and minutes later after that pic was taken, the tornado warning was issued. (I sadly didn't get a chance to grab any more screencaps at the time).

That cell went on, dropping hail (some places in excess of 1 inch), and had two separate reports of a funnel cloud within the tornado warning area. Remember, a funnel cloud is essentially a tornado that has not touched the ground (or has not apparently made contact when viewing directly at it). It's currently not known if it made contact with the ground.

What we got in its place outside of that system though was heavy, but brief, and overall minimal rainfall. Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks only saw 0.34" of rain, even though it was in the path of the storm that triggered the tornado warning (and near where a spotter reported a funnel cloud). Other areas saw similar low levels of precipitation overall, even though it was brief and moderately windy. Generally speaking, winds in storms were about 10, 15 MPH with gusts that approached or exceeded 30 MPH... Nothing exceptional.

Overall, Sunday was a rather interesting day to follow. There was plenty of potential for some very severe weather, but fortunately, Connecticut avoided most of it.

Footer Fun Fact: The NWS issued 9 Tornado Warnings in 2009 for Connecticut- 7 from OKX (Southern CT), 1 from ALY (Litchfield County), and 1 from BOX (Remaining Northern CT counties).