Lake Storm Today - 09/09/2006

[Senter Cove Guy]

We had a microburst go through the Senter Cove/Twin Islands area this afternoon at about 4:45pm. Pretty violent storm. It took down 2 small trees next to us. I couldn't see the Twin Islands from our shore because it was raining so hard. Then, when the rain stopped, the wind was still blowing and the whitecaps on the south side of the Twins were huge. We had been out in the boat an hour earlier and saw the storm coming but had no idea how strong it would be. Did anyone else experience anything like this today?

[mcdude]

the weather channel was saying that the worst of it would track through the Meredith and Plymouth area. Here, up on Alton Mountain, the wind wasn't too bad but we did get hail for about 10 or 15 minutes! ....and just about one hour later....the sun is out again.

[Paugus Bay Resident]

Pretty tame in Gilford, some high winds, a bit of rain, and now the sun is out. Cooled down quite a bit.

[ApS]

Everything between Mirror Lake and the Ossipee Mountains got hammered.

Most of the thunder, lightning, hail, and strong wind activity was there. We had a captivating view of it all: brief but heavy rain and some gusts near 50.

A lot of very large boats slowed thoughtfully when confronted by those approaching clouds over The Broads. Most scooted home. A few anchored near a lee shore.

A boat anchored off my shore apparently heard my casual "Everybody out of the pool" comment. Some concerned looks in my direction—then the sky :look: , and then rapid footwork in the anchor-retrieving department.:emb:

Still, scary enough. :(

[gravy boat]

We noticed the dark sky as the storm approached (we were at the camp in W. Alton), so we turned on the weather radio -- severe storm warning in northern Belknap County.

We watched some pretty intense lighting strikes for about an hour as the storm moved across the northern part of the lake, from west to east. We did get some rain and the wind caused some hefty white caps. No hail, nothing downed but some branches.

I was kind of sad after the storm passed, as I realized it may be the last thunderstorm we see here until May/June 2007. ;-(

[DRH]

We got a wind gust of 41 mph at 5:07 PM when the front came through. We also got a little rain, but it only lasted a few minutes. The lightning we saw toward Tuftonborough and Wolfeboro was intense, but we didn't get the hail McDude reported. The temperature quickly dropped from 72 degs down to about 65 degs when the front passed through this area.

Here's a photo of the front, headed east.

http://www.echoshores.com/Photos/StormFront_090906.jpg

[Mee-n-Mac]

I saw the menacing clouds move down Alton Bay and so covered the boat and packed up the porch stuff. About 5:15 the rain came down hard but it relented about 15 minutes later. Saw some lightning but no hail. Sun came out again and I had hoped to get a few good sunset pics but alas it was not to be. Nice cool night tonight, good sleeping weather.

Great pic DRH ! Wonder it that boat was one of the half dozen or so I saw coming down the bay just ahead of the clouds....

[chocophile]

We are on 19-Mile Bay in Tuftonboro, and we saw the storm approaching. :eek: The storm was so intense that our hinged kitchen window shot open and smashed against the outside wall. The bay went from calm to white caps and huge waves so big that our 14-foot aluminum boat was rocking at least 5 feet up and down. The rain was heavy -- huge drops.

If the wind gusts were 41 mph in Alton, I suspect that were close to 60 mph or more in Tuftonboro.

We had just returned from a trip to Lee's Mills to see the steamboats... we left early because we saw the dark clouds approaching there. Does anyone know how did the steamboat folks made out?

[Knomad]

In Center Tuftonboro, we got plenty of hail, strong winds, thunder and lightning. Some of the hail was 1" in diamenter. Thanks to Mighty Moe, we had plenty of warning and were able to get off the water and back to the house before the worst of it. The driveway was full of branches - looks like a good size tree came down across 109A just north of Spiderweb gardens.

[Irrigation Guy]

Very strong winds, lots of heavy rain(sheets), and lightning here on Moultonboro Neck. Then after it had seemed to pass, a real close lightning strike and big boom. That one really got our attention. :eek: :laugh:

[CHSLTD]

Something was struck and burning on Old Lake Shore Rd in Gilford...I was pulling my camper over the By-Pass (rt-3) and the wind was pushing me from lane to lane!

[mcdude]

... but we didn't get the hail McDude reported.

DRH: Often times the weather up here varies somewhat from the big lake since, at 809 feet above sea level, Hills Pond is 305 feet or so higher than the big lake. I could see the lightning in the distant north which would have been in the direction of the Moultonboro area. It was quite a show!

[MaryS]

It was wild in Moultonboro on the east side of the lake near Balmoral beach/Lee's MIlls.....alot of heavy rain, it stopped then another round with wind, lots of lightning, power went on and off ..the storm lasted about 45+ min......didn't know how the steamboaters made out....alot of them stay the week in tents. :(

[Island Girl]

We left the rally when it started pouring. Some of the steamboaters were putting up their windows... really cool on one of them... old time windows. No one there seemed really concerned... some had campers... lots of pop up canopies.

We raced out of there on the jetski. Moultonboro Bay was not yet raining. We got back to Rattlesnake about 10-15 minutes before the big wind hit.... and very glad to be there. We did not get a lot of rain... the light show across the lake over the mountains was delightful!

IG

[Airwaves]

Just got back from Vay-Ka! I gotta tell you we had a great time. Lots of friends and boating and the weather was great!

Saturday however was a day that required a "weather eye"!

I left Saunders Bay shorlty after noon, pretty close to 1. We went to Lakeport Landing, refueled then headed out, we kept an eye on the clouds and I was concerned but not uncomfortable. Left Paugus Bay and headed out beyond Gov's Island and stayed out into the broads, down past Rattlesnake Gal's domain and showed some friends what a Nascar ticket pays for!

Tooled around and then started back. All the time I was keeping an eye on not only the clouds but the J-Boat races. I was facinated by them! Racing sailboats always get my attention.

Got home, and buttoned up a half hour or so before the storm hit. I watched MP rescue a large cabin cruiser and saw a fire boat out assisting folks from the confort of my condo.

All in all a good time was had be me and mine, hopefully yours as well.

[Rinkerfam]

We were celebrating my in-laws 50th Anniversary in Meredith (8 children and spouses scattered about the C-Man compound) when the storm rolled in. I had just buttoned up the boat and headed up to my brother-in-laws balcony at Bay Point when Mother Nature unleashed. What a wild show! Not a whole lot of thunder and lightning, but serious wind and driving rains. There was even a rainbow at the finish, that appeared to end right on the raft tethered just off of Bay Point. I couldn't convince anyone to dive for the gold though:D


















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[Weirs guy]

I was telling my wife how much that storm reminded me of ones we had when I was younger. We were only at the Gringo for beers, err, lunch, yeah, lunch, and got soaked on the 2 minute walk home. Then it really started to rain. No hail or the like, but some very powerful lightening strikes.

[GTO]

We watched from our dock as a storm with great bolts of lighning blew over the Ossipee Mts and a half hour later a storm came over us. For 10-15 minutes the wind and rain were intense. Loud. I don't know how trees were left standing. One tree got uprooted and landed across rt 25, just a litttle past Patrician Shores, causing a long backup in traffic. DPW was there within the 1/2 hour and made quick work of it.. It is still all just lying on the side of the road. A large pine tree in Brookhurst was struck by lightning down by the water front causing a split from top to bottom that now you can see directly through the tree. Amazing more damage wasn't reported.

[SIKSUKR]

That storm scared the heck out of this guy!I waited too long to head back to Glendale from the bottom of Paugus Bay.The dark clouds looking towards Merideth were there for an hour or so but still didn't seem to be too threatening.We finally broke up our raft and the others headed for there houses by X-mas Island.And then I see the lightning towards Merideth.Now I'm on my PWC and headed right at it,and have a long no-wake zone in the channel ahead.That seemed like one of the longest rides through the channel I've ever had.Finally out,it's full throttle with those nasty thunderstorms chasing me.I spent more time in the air with some big water building.I get to the Governors Is Bridge and keep looking behind me thinking I'll never make it back without getting hammered.There were quite a few boats in that no-wake zone and most finally said to heck with the NWZ,were out of here!The wind was really up now so the water was very angry!I get out of the NWZ back at full throttle for all I'm worth and I hear a buzzer going off on my boat.Low fuel warning.Great,I'm not going to make to Glendale I think.Anyway,I did make it before the rain came but watching all that lightning chasing me on a PWC was very unerving.When I did get to Marine Patrol ther were 2 MP headed out with lights flashing and as I approached the ramp 2 Gilford fire trucks arrived at the docks.I got that boat out of the water faster than I've ever done it before.Watching the lightning hit the lake while standing in the water had this guy moving faster than he has for quite a while.What a great feeling seeing that PWC on the trailer and me out of the water!!Hope everyone else got home safe.

[twins]

That storm hit us pretty hard on Gem. We had just got back from Rattlesnake and I decided to check the weather when I saw the clouds. I clicked on the severe weather warning and it said a severe squall was headed west-to-east and would hit Moultonboro/Melvin Village at 4:55, looked at the clock at it was 4:55! I yelled "STORM" to my wife and she closes all the windows and secures the deck furniture while I put extra lines on the boat. We had a few anxious moments when the wind blew a pane of glass out on a window, and the wind blew the rain across the room, but that's all part of Winni Island living I wouldn't trade for anyplace else.