Power Outage in Willimantic, CT

A weak tornado touched town in the town of |Thompson in northern Windham County, Connecticut. A NWS |meteorologist conducted a storm survey following tips from amateur |radio operators and local broadcast meteorologists. The following |information summarizes all of the reports. ||The tornado touched down near a red barn near the intersection of |Quinebaug Road (Route 131) and Riverside Drive (Route 12). It was |reported to be about 50 yards wide and tracked northeastward in a |discontinuous path, impacting areas just south of Ryler Court at |Riverside Drive, Wilsonville Road, Wagher Road, and Denis Drive at |Labby Road. It then crossed the Massachusetts/Connecticut state |line and ended as a waterspout in Lake Chaubunagungamaug. Although |discontinuous, the total path length was 4.7 miles. The approximate |path width was 50 yards. Damage photos led to estimates of maximum |wind speeds of 80 to 85 mph, which puts this on the upper end of |the EF0 category of the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The time, based on |radar and eyewitness accounts, was from 1015 AM to 1024 AM EDT. ||More specifically, when the tornado touched down near Backwater |Brook, it snapped several trees in half in a convergent fashion. |It caused minor backyard damage at a nearby property before felling |numerous trees and power lines near the intersection of Riverside |Drive and Ryler Court. Tree damage was also reported at Wilsonville |Road and several trees were snapped in the backyard of a house near |Wagher Road and Forest Hill Drive. A tree was partially snapped near |Denis Drive at Labby Road before causing minor damage near Woods |Grove. Finally, multiple residents witnessed a waterspout over Lake |Chaubunagungamaug before dissipating near Killdeer Island.

A weak tornado touched town in the town of |Thompson in northern Windham County, Connecticut. A NWS |meteorologist conducted a storm survey following tips from amateur |radio operators and local broadcast meteorologists. The following |information summarizes all of the reports. ||The tornado touched down near a red barn near the intersection of |Quinebaug Road (Route 131) and Riverside Drive (Route 12). It was |reported to be about 50 yards wide and tracked northeastward in a |discontinuous path, impacting areas just south of Ryler Court at |Riverside Drive, Wilsonville Road, Wagher Road, and Denis Drive at |Labby Road. It then crossed the Massachusetts/Connecticut state |line and ended as a waterspout in Lake Chaubunagungamaug. Although |discontinuous, the total path length was 4.7 miles. The approximate |path width was 50 yards. Damage photos led to estimates of maximum |wind speeds of 80 to 85 mph, which puts this on the upper end of |the EF0 category of the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The time, based on |radar and eyewitness accounts, was from 1015 AM to 1024 AM EDT. ||More specifically, when the tornado touched down near Backwater |Brook, it snapped several trees in half in a convergent fashion. |It caused minor backyard damage at a nearby property before felling |numerous trees and power lines near the intersection of Riverside |Drive and Ryler Court. Tree damage was also reported at Wilsonville |Road and several trees were snapped in the backyard of a house near |Wagher Road and Forest Hill Drive. A tree was partially snapped near |Denis Drive at Labby Road before causing minor damage near Woods |Grove. Finally, multiple residents witnessed a waterspout over Lake |Chaubunagungamaug before dissipating near Killdeer Island.

In Woodstock, a tree was down on power lines at the intersection of Route 198 (Eastford Road) and Hawkins Road.

Two to four inches of wet snow fell, which clung to trees and power lines. The highest amount reported was 4.0 inches in Eastford (CoCoRaHS observer). In Woodstock at 602 AM EST (702 AM EDT), a tree and wires were down on Bungay Hill Road at Marcy Road.

At 1:15 PM EST a tree was reported down on Snake Meadow Road in Moosup. This caused a power outage.

A tree was downed onto power lines at the intersection of Killingly Road and Bosworth Road in Pomfret. A tree was downed onto Murdock Road.

A strong cold front moved quickly across the region late on the 31st. Ahead of the front it was a warm and very windy night, with many downed trees and power lines from strong south-southwest wind gusts. A 'fine line' of showers and isolated thunderstorms also helped mix down very strong winds from aloft.

A weakening area of low pressure centered over the Ohio Valley redeveloped into a coastal low off the Delmarva Coast during the early morning hours of 3 January. This coastal low rapidly intensified as it moved well south of New England, bringing a mixture of heavy, wet snow, rain and gusty northeast winds to Connecticut. The heavy, wet snow combined with gusty winds brought down limbs, trees, and power lines, and produced numerous power outages across the state. The hardest hit areas were across north central and northeast Connecticut, where generally between 6 and 14 inches of snow combined with gusty northeast winds brought down numerous trees, limbs, and wires. Approximately 16,000 customers lost power during this storm.No known injuries directly resulted from this noreaster.