A series of thunderstorms took Islanders by surprise Saturday, dropping hail and featuring a dramatic lightning show. After a sunny, summery day, the storm swept in from the northwest.

Martha’s Vineyard public schools will close early Tuesday due to the oncoming winter storm. The regional high school will close at 11; elementary schools will close at noon. The charter school is closing at 12.30 p.m.

It's peak hurricane season, and Island emergency managers are practicing tabletop drills and making sure they are stocked up for shelters — just in case.

I could not have been happier with the lovely rain last Saturday afternoon.

A heat wave and Fourth of July crowds have resulted in a flurry of medical issues that kept Island emergency responders busy this week.

George Eliot, pen name for novelist and poet Mary Anne Evans, captured my feelings when she explained, “Certain winds will make men’s temper bad.”

Torrents of rain from recent storms have caused Vineyard Great Ponds to rise to historic levels, threatening shellfish and surrounding homes.

Nothing was truer for February than the proverb “when it rains, it pours.”

Mud season may have come early this year, or it could just be an episode of early mini-mud.

Though January has just begun, the month has gifted us with a whole new vocabulary.