Monday evening, the Bangor area was stunned that a tornado watch was in effect.

There were severe thunderstorm warnings in the area between Waterville and to the east of Bangor, which is not unusual for us this time of year.  But, when local news is breaking into normal programming for the evening and your phone sends you alerts, you know something's going down.

People in the Newport, Pittsfield and surrounding areas got more than what they bargained for Monday evening that had the whole State of Maine watching for a tornado.

The skies were putting on quite a show for those a little west of Bangor and here are some pictures to prove it.

This picture is getting quite a bit of attention on social media.  It was taken at the Palmyra Autozone by Joshua Knowles.

ALMOST TORNADO Joshua Knowles
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Here's a close up:

Photo taken by Joshua Knowles
Photo taken by Joshua Knowles
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Josh is the manager at the Autozone and said that when he saw this impressive cloud formation that he knew that "we were in for a wild ride. Shelf clouds don't appear in Maine that often."  Even though Josh says he saw the cloud starting to rotate he didn't see any tornado form.

Here's a picture taken in Pittsfield by Breea Pease.

Photo by Breaa Pease
Photo by Breaa Pease
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Check out this picture from Sarah Nadeau also taken in Pittsfield.

Photo taken by Sarah Nadeau
Photo taken by Sarah Nadeau
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She ventured to Newport to get some gas and took some pictures there of the crazy skies.

Photo taken by Sarah Nadeau
Photo taken by Sarah Nadeau
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Photo taken by Sarah Nadeau
Photo taken by Sarah Nadeau
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Sarah says the drive was fine until she got into Pittsfield, then stopped in Newport to get some gas.  From there, she says, "Then it got so dark.  It was beautiful, to be honest".

Here's a photo from Jessica Ballard Lay, taken in Plymouth looking towards Newport, below.

Photo taken by Jessica Ballard Lay
Photo taken by Jessica Ballard Lay
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She seems to be a bit of a 'storm-watcher'.  What seemed unusual about this storm was the speed, or lack of it.  "It was crazy how it slowly moved in and then all of a sudden the winds picked up... it was pretty intense here."

Here's another taken in Dixmont from Brianne Gavit.

Photo taken by Brianne Gravit.
Photo taken by Brianne Gravit.
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And another taken in Glenburn by Lacey Chapman.

Photo taken by Lacey Chapman
Photo taken by Lacey Chapman
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The National Weather Service did issue a tornado warning on Monday evening for Southwestern Penobscot County in east central Maine during the 7 PM hour.  This was issued after a severe thunderstorm was located near Newport and showing rotation which could result in a tornado.  The areas the National Weather Service indicated that could have been impacted by the 'tornadic thunderstorm' was Carmel, Etna, Newburgh, Plymouth, Stetson and Dixmont.

Maine averages about 2 tornadoes yearly.  Maine had its first official tornado of the year a few weeks ago in the Sebago Lake region in Hiram, Maine.  Apparently, this was the first official tornado in New England for 2020, as well.

If you have a picture of what you saw Monday night of the wild 'tornadic thunderstorm', feel free to reach out and share it with us by visiting the Z107.3 Facebook page and we'll consider it to be published here.

Tornadic thunderstorm forming near Bangor on July 27th

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