Yesterday's thunderstorms wreaked havoc in surrounding communities, and the severe weather did not leave Greater Newburyport unscathed.
By 6 a.m. yesterday, 2 inches of rain had fallen in the previous 24 hours, according to Ray Whitley, a local weather watcher for the National Weather Service, and another inch had fallen by yesterday afternoon.
The deluges knocked down wires in Amesbury and tree limbs in Newburyport, and sent trees crashing to the ground in West Newbury. A willow tree barely missed a Brake Hill Terrace house and required the attention of Department of Public Works employees with saws before it could be taken from the driveway. Many West Newbury roads were covered in puddles that also required DPW and police action, officer James Riley said.
"The water came down very quickly," Riley said. "We had no actual closures, but we had stuff that needed attention fast."
In the surrounding region, the Merrimack Valley saw extensive flooding in the Lawrence/Andover area, and farther away in central New Hampshire, tornadoes were spotted and at least one person was killed when a home was destroyed by high winds.
According to Charlie Foley at the National Weather Service in Taunton, the month of July has already seen an above average amount of rainfall and thunderstorms in the Boston and North Shore area.
Foley said that in the last few days, the area has had a total of 2 to 4 inches of rain.
Nevertheless, Foley noted that this does not necessarily mark a trend for the remainder of the summer.
"This doesn't bode for any long-term weather pattern," Foley said.
Salisbury resident and weather expert Whitley reported that the month of July has dumped more than 41/2 inches of rain on the Newburyport area, an amount that he said is about an inch above average for the month.
The pattern of precipitation is one that started after a small dry spell at the beginning of the month, Foley said.
"All of a sudden the spigot turned back on," Whitley said.
Nonetheless, Whitley agrees with Foley in that the above-average rainfall is nothing unusual for the month of July.
In fact, Foley said, last year's July recorded high rainfall amounts as well, with more than 5 inches for the month's total.
A "southerly feed" of moist, tropical air has moved up north from the Gulf of Mexico, Foley said, leaving the region with "abundant" tropical moisture. The slow-moving cold front currently over the region has sparked a wave of thunderstorms this week leading to high winds and heavy rainfall that has caused problems for many towns in the Merrimack Valley as well as in New Hampshire, where the Associated Press reports that Gov. John Lynch has declared a state of emergency for Strafford County.
The AP report also said that yesterday's storm destroyed at least six New Hampshire homes and damaged at least 100, leaving one N.H. resident dead.
This weekend looks as though it may see some calmer weather, though, as Foley explained a drier, less-humid air mass coming in today will quell the extreme weather activity.
However, Whitley noted that a "southwest flow" will be moving back up again during the weekend, bringing back the humidity and the possibility for more intense weather.
At Bartlett Farm in Salisbury, the crop welcomed the recent rainfall, although owner Rob Bartlett explained that a summer with too much rain can bring trouble.
"(The crop) needs some sunny weather to grow," Bartlett said. He added that the weather so far this summer has "not been a problem."
