The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning Friday night for parts of southeastern Massachusetts and northeastern Rhode Island, identifying a threat of damaging wind gusts.
The Boston/Norton office issued the notice at 7:57 p.m. Eastern Standard Time November 6. The warning remains in effect until 9 p.m. EST Friday.
The covered areas are southwestern Barnstable County, southwestern Plymouth County and southeastern Bristol County in Massachusetts, along with northeastern Newport County in Rhode Island. The warning applies to the specified portions of those counties.
At 7:56 p.m., the storm was over Fall River, Massachusetts, moving east at 25 mph. The bulletin identifies radar-indicated wind gusts of 60 mph and warns of expected damage to trees and power lines. That hazard estimate is not a report of a measured surface gust.
Communities named in the notice include New Bedford, Fall River, Dartmouth, Falmouth, Wareham, Bourne, Somerset, Fairhaven, Swansea and Westport in Massachusetts, and Tiverton, Rhode Island. The bulletin also lists Marion, Middleborough, Carver, Lakeville, Acushnet, Freetown, Mattapoisett and Rochester.
The weather service directs people in the warned area to move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. The alert concerns a severe thunderstorm; it is not a tornado warning or confirmation that every listed community has experienced damage.
Sources: National Weather Service Boston/Norton — November 6, 7:57 p.m. EST Severe Thunderstorm Warning.