[youtube]s5fX072sQH8[/youtube]

This morning’s cool temperatures, flawless blue sky and brilliant sunshine emerging over the eastern horizon are in stark contrast to yesterday’s frightening weather. It began yesterday morning at about 8:30 when the sky opened up and lightning lit up the streets. While that weather event lasted only for about 15 minutes, it gave us a preview of what was in store later in the day. Throughout the afternoon, whenever the humidity and wind picked up, nervous eyes looked to the horizon for more storm clouds. Shortly after 4 pm they arrived. We here in Lowell were spared the real violence of the storm which descended on Springfield and the communities east of there in the form of a tornado captured on the video above. MassLive.com, the website of the Springfield Republican newspaper reports on the casualties and damage caused by the tornado including two deaths.