Weather

Heavy rain is in the forcast for New Hampshire on Tuesday night, and a cold front moving through the region Wednesday could produce thunderstorms and possible severe winds.

The National Weather Service reports the heavy rain storm should subside before midnight, giving way to a chance of fog.

1:00 PM: 

via The Associated Press

A deluge from the remnants of Hurricane Florence has flooded parts of New Hampshire, forcing firefighters to rescue several people.

In Derry, Fire Chief Chief Mike Gagnon said seven people were rescued by boat Tuesday after water rose 5 to 6 feet outside several small businesses in an industrial area. He said eight others were assisted to higher ground, and about 15 cars were flooded.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for southeastern New Hampshire today, through Monday night, with heat index values likely reaching 101.

The advisory is directed at eastern Hillsborough County, and most of Rockingham and Strafford counties.

The health warning was prompted by a combination of high temperatures and high humidity.

The National Weather Service recommends people spending time outside stay hydrated and limit strenuous activities.

State officials say current unhealthy ozone concentrations will spread in New Hampshire through mid-week.

Rockingham County remains under an air quality alert through Wednesday. Joining it Tuesday and Wednesday are Hillsborough County and any area above 3,000 feet in elevation – some mountainous parts in the North Country.

Jeff Underhill is the state's chief air quality scientist. He says the high ozone levels come from heat, sun and winds carrying pollution.

The National Weather Service has confirmed a microburst caused damage to homes and trees in Gilmanton on Friday.

Jeff Underhill is a scientist at the state Department of Environmental Services. He says any severe thunderstorm can cause a microburst – a sudden, straight down-gust of wind.

"And when it hits the ground, it curves out so it blows along level with the ground,” Underhill says. “It can be quite high wind speeds, high enough to knock down trees."

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory today for most of New Hampshire, warning the heat index values hitting 100.

The forecast calls for temperatures in the mid to high 90s, with dewpoints in the upper 60s and lower 70s.

New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services declared an "air quality action day" today for Rockingham County, a warning for unhealthy levels of air pollution. 

The bad-air alert was issued for Tuesday and Wednesday for both Rockingham and Hillsborough counties.

UPDATE: The National Weather Service tornado warning for eastern New Hampshire expired at 6 p.m.

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The tornado warning for parts of Rockingham and Strafford counties in New Hampshire expired at 6 p.m. 

At Concord Airport, the forecast tonight calls for scattered t-storms before midnight. Some storms could be severe, with damaging winds and heavy rain, according to the National Weather Service.

A flash flood watch was issued for southern New Hampshire, with heavy rain in the forecast.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstrom warning for much of Cheshire, Hillsborough, Merrimack, and Rockingham counties until 7 p.m.

The National Weather Service says there's a flash flood watch in effect from Tuesday afternoon through the evening for the area of York, Maine, and in much of southeastern New Hampshire.

Nearly half of New Hampshire is officially in a drought, with the whole state experiencing unusual dryness – and forecasts predict more serious, statewide drought by mid-fall.

It’s prompted state regulators to recommend limiting outdoor water use until conditions improve.

Despite a bout of heavy rain last month, the state is getting dryer.

All of Merrimack, Sullivan, Strafford and Belknap Counties are now in moderate drought, along with parts of Northern and Southern New Hampshire.

A thunderstorm has knocked down trees and damaged some homes in parts of Maine and New Hampshire.

Tuesday night's storm brought wind gusts up to 60 mph and hail. Trees and power lines were brought down.

Nearly 4,000 customers in Maine were without power at one point, most of them in Portland.

In New Hampshire, damage such as trees falling on houses and overturned boats was reported in Northwood, Andover, and other towns.

The heat index will be pushing 100 degrees in New Hampshire on Sunday, ushering in a hot and humid Fourth of July week.

Daytime temperatures will be sticking in the 90s through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. It will only get hotter Monday and Tuesday.

The severe storm that swept across New Hampshire Monday caused more than 63,000 Granite Staters to lose power at peak outage.

Utility crews worked overnight to restore electricity to more than 50,000 customers by Tuesday morning.

The estimates: Eversource, 11,529; NH Electric Coop, 362; Liberty Utilities 317; Unitil 57.

Monday night's report continues below here:

UPDATE:  The National Weather Service has listed a tornado warning it issued for Grafton County and Carroll County from about 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday.

There is a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of those counties, as well as for southern New Hampshire.

At 5 p.m., a flood advisory was then issued for parts of Grafton and Carroll counties, due to the rainfall projections.

(An earlier report below here was posted during the tornado warning.)

A Severe Storm Front

Southeastern New Hampshire is under an air quality alert today as high temperatures continue.

The state says air pollution and ozone concentrations could reach unhealthy levels in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties due to hot, sunny weather, and with winds carrying pollution into the region.

Officials say children and elderly people—and anyone with a respiratory condition—should limit exertion and time spent outdoors

Ozone exposure can cause coughing, shortness of breath and pain when inhaling, even for healthy people.

It is going to be a sunny and hot weekend in New Hampshire.

Temperatures will reach highs in the 80s on Saturday, while the heat will climb into the mid-90s on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

The forecast indicates the temperature reaching 97 in Nashua and hitting 96 in Manchester.

The hot weather will stick around Monday, when there's a chance of showers and thunder storms.

A sunny weekend is in the forecast and the summery weather is expected to stretch into the start of next week.

Sunshine and high temperatures near 80 on Saturday will remain steady for Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Over-night lows this weekend will be in the mid-40s.

The extended forecast calls for a chance of a thunderstorm on Wednesday, and possible showers toward the end of next week.

The first official day of summer is June 21.

SUNDAY update: Utility crews have restored power to most of those customers who lost electricity Friday night. Linemen continue to work on some trouble spots Sunday.

Eversource, as of midday, reports 885 customers without power.  N.H. Electric Coop has about 170, while Liberty Utilities reports 45. Until had a handful of outages it was restoring Sunday morning.

For Eversource customers, here's a link to report an outage, or call 800-662-7764.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for Northern New Hampshire and parts of Central New Hampshire.

The alert is in effect from Wednesday at 8 p.m. through Thursday afternoon.

The targeted area includes Grafton and Carroll counties. There is a "hazardous weather outlook" for points south of those counties, with forecasters warning of possible minor flooding. 

High wind gusts and icing on wires across the state contributed to more than 12,000 electric customers losing power by late Monday afternoon.

New Hampshire Electric Cooperative reported 6,040 outages as of 5:30 p.m.

Eversource reported 5,351 customers without power.

A winter weather advisory is in effect for New Hampshire until Sunday night. The state Department of Transportation has a travel advisory warning of slick roads across the Granite State.

The National Weather Service also issued a hazardous weather outlook, with a forecast that calls for freezing rain that will turn to sleet.

Update, 11 a.m. -- Eversource has restored power to more than 45,000 customers who lost electricity during the high winds Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

New Hampshire's largest utility reported 8,743 without power at 11 a.m.

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(An earlier story follows here.)

Strong winds overnight caused thousands of power outages across New Hampshire.

Eversource, the state's largest utility, reported 15,794 customers with electricity, as of daybreak.

5:30 p.m.: The New Hampshire Department of Transportation reports that the number of crashes are down today, thanks in part to drivers staying off the roads where possible. Roger Lamontagne, of DOT District 3, took this photo of a car off the road at the end of the Laconia bypass in Gilford:

There are only scattered outages, as of 5:30 p.m. Eversource had halved its customer outage to just 50. 

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3 p.m.:  The latest nor'easter is going a lot easier on area utilities than last week's storm. So far.

Another nor'easter is developing, and this winter storm watch coincides Tuesday with New Hampshire's annual Town Meeting day.

The National Weather Service issued the storm alert for all of Tuesday and until Wednesday at 8 a.m.

The updated forecast Sunday indicates snowfall of at least a couple of inches across the Granite State. 

Snow accumulation projections include:

Tens of thousands of people have had their power restored Thursday, after a winter storm dumped about a foot of heavy, wet snow on New Hampshire.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, about 37,000 customers – mostly in Southeastern New Hampshire – were still waiting on power.

Unitil spokeswoman Carol Valianti says the snow that fell on that region is like cement. It adheres to trees and branches and wires, and brings them down.

On top of that, she says the preceding nor'easter left trees brittle from wind and loaded the ground with moisture, weakening root systems.

A major winter storm is developing that could dump more than a foot of snow on parts of New Hampshire.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the entire Granite State. Snow is expected to start falling around 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The warning extends to Thursday at 1 p.m.

Snow accumulation projections include: Concord, 8- to 14- inches, Keene, 9- to 15-, and Portsmouth, 9- to 13-.

The snow map produced Tuesday by the Weather Service shows a significant high end of the range. Manchester could get as much as 17 inches of snow.

Gov. Chris Sununu inspected historic flooding Saturday on the New Hampshire seacoast, as Atlantic waves whipped up from a nor'easter's high winds breached and eroded sea walls for a second day.

Update: The nor'easter March storm soaked New Hampshire's seacoast towns, causing serious flooding in Hampton Beach and forcing the closure of several roads in Hampton to Rye along Ocean Boulevard. 

Flooding was its worst with the mid-day high tide. Several roads that were blocked or closed were open Friday afternoon, while public safety officials are keeping on eye on the next high tide - close to midnight.

The coastal flood warning is in effect until 2 p.m. Saturday. A high wind warning is in effect until midnight. 

A winter storm forecast to hit New Hampshire on Friday could result in coastal flooding and power outages.

The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood watch for the Seacoast. High water may have difficulty receding around Hampton, as strong easterly winds pick up over the high tide cycle.

There is also a high wind watch for coastal communities. The storm will generate winds of 20-30 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph.

The Weather Service expects the strongest winds to develop Friday morning, with possible power outages from downed trees and branches.