Countdown 'Til Spring
14 days and counting until the Vernal Equinox, which is exactly at 1:14am on Tuesday, March 20. The Vernal Equilux (closest to equal hours of day/night) will be a few days prior to the Equinox on March 17 (12 hrs 1 min of daylight...11 hrs 59 mins of darkness).
Today will be a mere carbon copy of yesterday with the exception of afternoon highs a degree or two on the 'plus' side. Sunshine will be the name of the game.
Tonight will provide cloudy intervals with a few flurries and snow showers for areas far north and west (mainly Northern New England) as a warm front tracks northward. This front will create the wind shift (southwest) needed to carry the warm air northward (aka warm air advection).
A strong surface high and ridge aloft will not only bring us sunny conditions but also aid in the warm air advection which will catapult high temperatures into the 50s and 60s. Wednesday will be sunny along with highs in the middle to upper 50s. A sunny Thursday will be the 'pinnacle' of warmth on the Accuweather 7-day forecast as highs reach a near-record high in the middle 60s (record: 67F in 1995).
A cold front will bring clouds to the region on Thursday evening, and rain will move in on Thursday night. The front will be gone by Friday morning. This is going to be the turning point between the midweek warmth to the falling temperatures on Friday.
This weekend: I followed the guidance of the EURO for the weekend forecast as strong ridge sets up across the eastern third of the nation. This would deflect and weaken an upper level low into an open wave as it would be approaching the area from the southwest. This would lend to a sunshiny weekend. It would be chilly on Saturday with highs near 40F while Sunday would be warmer in the 50s. On the contrary, the GFSx introduces rain by Sunday evening through Monday due to the weakening ridge and a stronger upper level low. Both models depict a dry and cool Saturday though.
Weather Tidbits...
***Full 'Worm' Moon will be this Thursday at 4:41am.
***Daylight Saving Time begins at 2am this Sunday. 'Spring' clocks ahead one hour.
***Average last measurable snow in Boston...March 29
***Average last frost in Boston...April 11
~Melissa :)
