Much like the last two summers, this June proved to be relatively dry. Coming out of a dry May again this year, northern New Jersey through parts of New England fell into a moderate drought, (D1 on the U.S. Drought Monitor Intensity Scale, which ranks from D0, or abnormally dry, to D4, an exceptional drought). For more information regarding the drought, read our article here. However, June was relatively active in terms of severe weather, especially during the first and third week of the month across the mid - Atlantic. Much of the severe weather consisted of damaging straight-line winds or microbursts with a few 1" hail reports.
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According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK, eight days featured severe weather in the form of wind (58 mph or higher) and hail (1" or greater) within the Northeast, most notably June 8th and June 21st. The set-up for June 8th included a unusually potent upper-level disturbance by June standards rotating through the region. In fact, once meteorologists saw that the system would become "negatively tilted," it was apparent that that the intensity of severe weather would be higher than normal. And that's exactly what happened. A line of severe thunderstorms plowed through the region with widespread gusts ranging from 50 - 70 mph blowing through most of Maryland and central and southern New Jersey. It even led to one injury in New Castle, Delaware as a large tree uprooted and landed on a car, trapping the driver.
Property damage in Laurel, MD June 2016 event. Image courtesy of the National Weather Service in Washington D.C./Baltimore.
Severe weather tracked south once again on 21st with severe storms hitting Maryland and northern Virginia hard with a microburst impacting Cape May, NJ. A strong cold front ushered in scattered severe storms to the mid - Atlantic, resulting in high wind and hail reports across Maryland and parts of South Jersey. Impressively, storms spawned an EF-0 tornado in Poplar Spring, MD located in Howard County with a microburst producing 80 - 85 mph gusts through the Delaware Bay and Cape May County, NJ, leaving over 8,000 without power. Besides damaging winds, storms on this day produced prolific lightning and hail even reached up to the size of a golf balls near the Jersey Shore.
New England saw its fair share of severe weather as well, from two separate events on June 7th and June 29th. Isolated thunderstorms on these days resulted in a few downed trees and power lines in places like Boston, MA and Seabrook, NH in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
All in all, June's precipitation was highly variable through the Northeast but its temperatures trended near normal for the region. The month was mainly without any widespread rain makers and most of the Northeast's precipitation came from variable thunderstorms that favored a southerly track. Therefore, it's no wonder those north and west of I - 95 finished about 2 - 3 inches drier than normal while those south and east ended near normal. Thanks to a few shots of cooler Canadian air and a June void of extensive heat waves, the month finished near normal for all areas. Will July feature more bouts of heat and more evenly distributed rainfall? Find out in our next newsletter.
