Specimen maple hit by a mini-twister (the tree on the right in the inset)
New York is not exactly Alabama, but last night, out of nowhere, a violent thunder and lightning display, a mighty roaring noise, and while we wrestled unsuccessfully to try to close the front door against the incredible wind, a mini-twister (I think, technically, a microburst) traced a path right over our house, splitting a massive 85 foot specimen maple in half. The tree had towered over the house as you can see on the right in the inset photo. The twister touched nothing on either side of its track – this morning we traced its path by downed trees over a mile or so. Today’s forecast – more violent storms with tornado conditions. What fun.