Severe Thunderstorm Warning Issued For Greater Boston

More than 6,000 Massachusetts households are without power as a severe thunderstorm watch has been posted for all of the state.

There are reports of downed trees and homes damaged in several cities and towns across Massachusetts.

"My biggest concern with these thunderstorms really is the large hail and the damaging winds — especially those damaging winds," said WCVB-TV meteorologist Mike Wankum. "They already have a history of 70-mile-per-hour-gusts within them, and so some microbursts are possible."

Wankum then offered a definition for the intense, destructive downdrafts of air.

"Microbursts are oftentimes confused for tornadoes, but a microburst is a concentrated downdraft of wind," Wankum said. "It'll knock trees down, it is very, very powerful, whereas a tornado will twist things and try to suck them up. So there's a difference between the two, but the damage is still very evident from both of those. You have to be very cautious about that. We rarely get tornadoes, but microbursts are a little more common in New England."

The storm is expected to move out to sea by 8 p.m.