Tornado and microburst hit NH Tuesday, causing extensive damage

A tornado hit New Hampshire during Tuesday night's powerful storms, the National Weather Service said Wednesday night. Microbursts also hit that state and Vermont.

The NWS said the tornado touched down in Lyme around 7:30 p.m., traveling 1.8 miles. It rated EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with a maximum estimated wind speed of 110 mph.

In an update released Thursday, the weather service said the tornado first touched down near Post Pond, downing numerous trees along the western shoreline. The tornado tracked almost due north and crossed Route 10, causing sporadic tree damage. Once it reached Whipple Hill Road, the tornado's circulation became wider, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees.

One garage was even picked up and moved about 15 feet, and trees fell onto the roof of a home. The tornado continued north from there and continued to strengthen, causing even greater damage to trees and homes.

Overall, about 500-1,000 trees were snapped or uprooted, and five homes were damaged.

Neither New Hampshire nor Vermont was under tornado warnings, as parts of Massachusetts were.

About half an hour later in Milford, New Hampshire, a microburst also caused damage.

A microburst also hit in Rupert, Vermont, near the state line with New York, around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said, explaining that trees were snapped and uprooted in North Rupert.

Numerous reports of damage were reported in the state as the storms moved through, knocking down tree limbs and leaving thousands without power.

Two areas of concentrated damage occurred in Milford and Lyme, and the National Weather Service sent a survey team to those areas Wednesday to examine the damage and determine whether it was caused by a tornado or straight line winds.

Milford is in southern New Hampshire, while Lyme is located in the central part of the state, along the Vermont border.

Shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said its survey team confirmed straight line damage in Milford due to a microburst. They said they observed seven damaged homes, two destroyed vehicles and about 150 downed trees in all.

They still haven't said whether the damage in Lyme was caused might have been caused by a microburst or tornado.

The Milford Fire Department said on Facebook that a "substantial weather event" hit the town around 8 p.m. Tuesday, damaging many trees, branches and power lines. They said there was signficant damage to homes, electrical poles, and some very large trees down in area roadways.

The Lyme Fire Department shared several photos of storm damage on their Facebook page, and said a portion of Whipple Hill Road was closed on Tuesday night due to multiple trees, wires and power poles down "from an unconfirmed Tornado that hit the area."

They said no injuries were reported.

They also shared video of a possible funnel cloud or tornado shared by a local resident.

No tornado warning was issued for New Hampshire during Tuesday's storms, though a tornado warning was issued for parts of central and western Massachusetts.