Warm Air Departure
It was another delightfully warm day with the predicted high of 78 degrees materializing at 1:47 this afternoon in Boston. Will we enjoy another similar warm day this year? The odds do not favor it despite the record highs for almost every October day exceed 80 degrees. Not only that but last Columbus Day Weekend featured a hat trick of warmth on the dates of October 8-10. The maximum temperatures on those days were 82, 87 and 85 respectively! The 87 smashed the previous record set in 1935 by 5 degrees! Do you remember that? I was hiking the Kinsman Ridge Trail up Cannon Mt. with my oldest son on Sunday, October 9. It was a smashing day with brilliant sunshine, great visibility and some beautiful fall foliage color visible in the distance north of Franconia Notch. It was great to see so many hikers enjoying the outdoors in the splendid weather.
Today's warm weather was shoved out of the region late this afternoon and early evening by a surging cold front from the west. It triggered a broken band of briefly heavy showers and isolated lightning and thunder. With its passage and wind shift, the temperatures suddenly dropped 10-15 degrees. It doesn't look like the pattern is supportive of any more days of 75-80 degrees at least for the next 7 days. It is possible that a warm front might push up into southern New England a week from tomorrow but that is presently viewed as a long shot. Behind the cold front, some clearing is anticipated for tonight as it cools off to the range of 45-50. By dawn, the next initial streamers of high clouds will be advancing into the region from a short wave in the jetstream. It is emerging from the lower Tennessee Valley and is still on target to deliver a spell of wet weather to New England. Its speed is slightly reduced from yesterday's projection so the arrival of rain is delayed until late afternoon. It will likely become wet during the first half of the Pats/Broncos Game set for kickoff at 4:25pm. Expect high temperatures closer to 60 with a light breeze compared to today's near 80 and a gusty south-southwesterly wind. Once the rain departs a couple of hours or so after midnight tomorrow night, Monday will debut on the cloudy side as another wave scoots out to sea south of the region. Its cloud shield will probably dim any sunshine in the morning with some brightening in the afternoon as temperatures max out in the upper 50s.
Looking ahead, a stalled frontal boundary to the south of New England coul introduce additional varying amounts of clouds on Tuesday and Wednesday. A digging trough of low pressure aloft and an associated cold front from the Great Lakes will sweep through the region Wednesday evening with a brief shower leading to more substantial sunshine on Thursday. Expect high temperatures in the middle 60s on Wednesday with breezy conditions and slightly cooler weather on Thursday. The strongest cold front is destined to arrive around midday on Friday perhaps preceded by a brief shower in a few places. After that, a large high pressure system will provide sunny, breezy weather a week from today with highs in the lower to middle 50s.
Leaf spotters have been forwarding photos of beautiful fall foliage color. We'd love to see your photos. Send them to weather@cbsboston.com. Reports suggest plentiful stunning color across various portions of northern New England down into the Berkshires. The color has already peaked near and north of the notches in northern NH and northern VT. Additionally, there has been leaf drop even down here in southern sections over the past couple days before the leaves reached peak. It is possible that the foliage will not be as striking down here as what I witnessed in the Mount Washington/Bretton Woods region last weekend. We shall see.
Joe Joyce delivers his AccuWeather Forecast in the morning and I shall follow later in the day.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.
