NWS Confirms Funnel Cloud In Manchester During Friday Storm

MANCHESTER, CT — The National Weather Service has confirmed that a funnel cloud made its way across north central and eastern Connecticut during Friday's wild weather and came "dangerously close" to touching down in towns that included Manchester and Storrs.

A report on the storm was released by the National Weather Service in Norton, MA. According to the NWS report, on Friday evening, doppler radar indicated a "rotating thunderstorm" that moved across central and eastern Connecticut between 6:30 and 8 p.m.

The rotation "aloft" became strong over the town of Chaplin, prompting the issuance of a Tornado Warning, according to the NWS report. There were numerous videos and photos of a large funnel cloud beginning in Manchester and working its way eastward to Storrs and continuing on to Killingly, near the Rhode Island border, according top the NWS report.

The National Weather Service conducted a survey in Chaplin, Hampton, Brooklyn, Plainfield and into Killingly, including the Wauregan and Danielson areas, accompanied by the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

"We scoured that region and were unable to find any damage consistent with a tornado. A drone video from the southern end of Pine Acres Lake in Hampton showed a couple of trees downed," NWS officials said. "To be more certain that we were not missing something, the Civil Air Patrol flew several flight paths across that entire region, beginning back in the Coventry and Mansfield areas. From the air, no damage was spotted anywhere along the entire route."

The NWS did cite the presence of what is known as a "tornado debris signature" on radar, which is indicative of "minimal turbulence that is not characteristic of a "tornadic signature." The NWS drew the conclusion that a funnel cloud traversed eastern Connecticut. It came "dangerously close" to touching down but never did so.

According to the NWS report, in Manchester between 7:30 and 7:40 p.m., an estimated 20 to 30 trees were downed between Spring Street and Carriage Drive and along Gardner Street. Two trees were uprooted and a "couple of trees" were snapped in half, according to the NWS report. No homes were damaged and no injuries were reported.

There were videos of a funnel cloud in Manchester, according to the NWS report.

The NWS concluded that a microburst with winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph occurred in the southern portion of Manchester in that 10 minute time frame.