The Severe Weather Outbreak of May 31st 2002
The image below was taken from the Gray National Weather Service 88D radar and shows the squall line
racing eastward across New Hampshire and Maine. You can read more details about this severe weather event
below.
Local GYX [Gray ME] Radar Imagery Animation
Regional Radar Imagery Animation
On Friday May 31st 2002, a quick moving cold front approached New England. Ahead of the front, mostly
sunny skies allowed temperatures to warm into the 70s and lower 80s by early afternoon across New Hampshire
and Western Maine. The air was also muggy with dewpoints in the lower and mid 60s. The combination of the
approaching front, and the warm, humid airmass, spawned an outbreak of Severe Thunderstorms across New Hampshire
and Western Maine during the late afternoon and early evening hours. A developing line of Severe Thunderstorms
approached the Connecticut River valley around 3 pm. This line then raced eastward at nearly 50 mph reaching
the New Hampshire Seacoast about 530 PM, and midcoast Maine about one hour later. These storms produced
primarily wind damage and lightning strikes. This system also produced a Tornado near West Paris Maine. At the height of the storm, over 30,000 customers were without
power in New Hampshire and Western Maine. You can view some preliminary damage reports received by the National Weather Service here.
Here is the view from space showing the GOES-8 visible imagery from the same time as the Radar image above.
An animation of the available GOES-8 Satellite imagery can be viewed here.
This is a surface analysis showing conditions shortly before the beginning of the outbreak over New Hampshire and
Western Maine. You can view a loop of the surface maps from 18z to 00z here.
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