Rains come down - and do trees as tornado hits Concord

UPDATED, 11:55 a.m.

The National Weather Service reports a tornado briefly touched down in Concord early this morning:

The tornado was embedded within an area of straight-line wind damage. It touched down near Cambridge Turnpike around 320 am EDT before heading toward the northeast. Most of the damage was concentrated near Alcott and Independence Roads where trees were uprooted or had the tops sheared off at the top. It was evident that trees were blown down in opposite directions. Several houses sustained damage to roof shingles. Damage was more spotty in nature farther northeast where it is suspected the tornado lifted after only a few minutes.

It is possible that many trees were uprooted due to the ongoing drought conditions, which resulted in weakened root systems.

Based upon the damage observed, the tornado has been rated EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with maximum winds around 100 mph. The path length was one half mile long and 400 yards wide.

Meanwhile, the NWS reports Boston got 0.84 of an inch of rain.

The rain, of course, was enough to cause problems at Storrow Drive underpasses, as Peter shows us: