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Nice Easter Weekend

Although I can't say it will be an extraordinary, exquisite Easter weekend featuring unlimited bright sunshine and temperatures near 70, I am certain that most of you will be pleased and satisfied with the weather conditions. Tomorrow will contain, you guessed it, more clouds but it appears to me that most of them will be seen earlier in the day with a trend toward drying and stabilization thus enabling more and more sunshine as the day progresses. Expect highs in the middle 50s with just a light breeze of 5-15 mph. For early Easter Sunday services around the 6:28 sunrise, it will be clear and cold with temperatures in the range of 27-32 in the suburbs and 36-40 in the larger urban centers. The sunshine will be bright through the morning then become dimmed as the afternoon progresses via the increase of cloudiness. A ribbon of rain will arrive in western New England during the afternoon and eastern sections between 5 and 9 o'clock. The high temperatures in the middle 50s will occur in the middle of the afternoon. Last Easter on April 8, it was a bit cooler at 50 degrees in the Boston area. Next year, Easter occurs on April 20. That is quite late but not the latest that it could be which is on April 25. The last latest Easter happened in 1943 and it will not happen again until 2038. On the flip side, the earliest possible Easter is on March 22. Interestingly, the last earliest Easter occurred way back in 1818 and the next time that this will occur is way out in the future in 2285! The variability of the date of Easter is due to the Paschal Full Moon. Easter Sunday occurs on the first Sunday after that first full moon following the vernal equinox or the beginning of spring.

Jumping back to today, there is one more minor disturbance to pass southeastward across the region. Consequently, with the atmosphere in an unstable mode, there will be more and more clouds popping up to interrupt the sunshine and eventually yield a few spotty afternoon and early evening showers. With wind in the range of 5-15 mph, the maximum temperatures will be in the middle 50s. Lots of clouds will linger overnight so it will not cool off too much with lows in the middle 30s to lower 40s.

Jumping ahead to Sunday evening, the rain will be moderate to perhaps even briefly heavy amounting to a quarter up to a half-inch before it winds down after midnight and the wave of low pressure shifts offshore before dawn. The next weather maker will be a strong cold front on its way from Canada and the Great Lakes region. It will set off a narrow broken band of showers which will arrive in eastern MA later Monday afternoon into early evening. Before this batch of wet weather arrives, there will be some sunshine with a brisk southwesterly wind sending temperatures to the lower 60s and that is no April fooling. Boston's record high for April 1 is way up there at 76 which was set in 1918. The average high for April 1 is 51. There is a very slight risk that a few post-frontal flurries could sweep across southern New England Monday night before clearing sets in by dawn on Tuesday.

With the passage of that cold front, another mass of chilly air will rush into the region from the west-northwest. As a result, temperatures will rise to highs in the middle 40s on Tuesday and Wednesday when there will be a mix of sunshine and some clouds. After that, a ridge of high pressure will be building to the south of the area setting us up with a southwesterly flow of warmer air later next week. There will be a recovery to the upper 50s next Thursday and perhaps lower 60s  or so a week from today!

For the skiers and riders, despite the dwindling snow cover across the region, there is still a decent to mammoth amount on most of the slopes on the mountain resorts. Even areas closer to Boston like Mt Wachusett here in MA have fantastic conditions. Wachusett will remain open until the 4pm closing on April 7! Conditions are awesome most areas with primary surfaces as packed powder and machine-groomed over many of the northern resorts ranging up to corn snow and spring conditions at many of the other resorts to the south. For instance, my favorite place Bretton Woods @ The Mount Washington Resort has dynamite conditions with a huge variety of cruising trails and glades. I enjoyed one of the best skiing days in my life there last Saturday when it was snowing all day, the wind was blowing at 25-45 mph and the wind chill temperature was in the teens! For the snowmobilers, trails exposed to midday sunshine are thinly covered or closed. You will find open terrain in the deeper-wooded locations way up north. Check ahead for specific information about the area you desire. The weather will be cooperative over the weekend with some snow falling over the higher elevations over far northern areas on Sunday night.

Todd Gutner posts a fresh update late this afternoon or early this evening. Joe Joyce is on duty this weekend.

Have a great weekend and HAPPY EASTER!

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