90 mph Tornado in NH Confirmed by National Weather Service

The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado with a peak wind speed of 90 mph touched down in Charlestown and Claremont, New Hampshire early Monday evening.

As a cold front moved through the western part of the state a line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed resulting in "sporadic straight-line wind damage," according to the National Weather Service's Gray, Maine office.  Video described as "compelling" captured by the dash cam video (WARNING: language) of a vehicle showed a funnel cloud move along Route 11 and touchdown briefly before moving over the vehicle.

A survey team that traveled to see the impact of the storm and assign the tornado a rating of EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale of zero to five.

The tornado traveled nearly five miles and had a width of 330 yards. It formed in North Charlestown at 6:22 p.m. and ended in Claremont six minutes later.

No injuries were attributed to the storm.

Damage from the storm included a thousand snapped and uprooted softwood trees. Several hardwood trees were uprooted at the end of the storm, according to the survey team.

Walter Sombric of Charlestown told WMUR that a tree landed in the bedroom where his sons were playing video games.

Charlestown Police said that utility worked all night to restore poles and wires damaged by the tornado and to clean up debris.

Tornados are not common in New Hampshire, with none reported in 2021. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information's Storm Events database, the last EF-1 tornado in New Hampshire was in 2018 in the Box Corner section of Bradford in Merrimack County.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH