Take Me Out To The Ball Game!
Today's Home Opener is putting a lot of people in a cheery mood especially with the Red Sox in first place in the AL East..How great is that? WOOHOO! It's a fresh new start for the Sox and we are excited! The weather will be very cooperative for the big event with plentiful sunshine and pleasant temperatures. Now, many would like it warmer but the reality is it could be much cooler this time of the year and I can tell you that it is going to be just that later this week. In fact, the Thursday and Friday evening games may be in jeopardy of being postponed. That is not etched in stone just yet so we'll have to wait a couple of days to see how that is all going to play out. In the meantime, we should enjoy today's conditions as the morning cloudiness thins out and it becomes sunnier for the afternoon. Compared to the gusty winds over the weekend, it should be just a breeze at 5-15 mph out there today but the wind direction is key. It will shift from the southwest to the west-northwest this morning then flip to the east-southeast by noon. That move will prompt cooling along the coast and some of that will penetrate into and beyond Fenway Park. I am predicting a rise to the lower 60s before a reversal sets in and the temperature recedes to about 56 at the ball park by the end of the game. At the immediate coast, it will dip lower through the lower 50s to perhaps the upper 40s by 4-6pm. While this is transpiring, well inland more than 15 miles from the coastline, it will max out in the range of 64-68! Nice!
Cut this week in half and you get the warmest part in the first half and the coldest part in the second half in New England. There is going to be some crazy even severe weather in the nation during the week as a major storm forms out west. For example, Denver will bask in the middle to upper 60s today then be in the 20s with moderate to heavy snow tomorrow! Some nasty thunderstorms and possible tornadoes will break out in the Plains States tomorrow then shift into the Mississippi Valley Wednesday and Midwest to deep South on Thursday. This system will provide our heaviest rainfall Thursday night and Friday. It will even be cold enough to support some flakes and ice pellets at that time especially across northern MA northward. I cannot completely rule out some accumulating snow mainly over the higher elevations up north! A very cold air mass will be building across Canada and the steering currents will veer sufficiently to open the doors for the cold air to drain across the Great Lakes to NY to New England.
Before the cold stuff arrives, we have a shot at feeling and seeing 70 degrees tomorrow. I have been forecasting this to happen since the middle of last week but cautioned that it would be dependent upon the precise placement of a frontal boundary tomorrow. It is not 100% guaranteed but with warm air aloft and the chance that a northwest to westerly wind will blow part of the day, the stage is set for a rally to 70 as along as clearing develops later tomorrow morning after a batch of showers pass through tonight. There could be a bit of lightning and thunder in a few spots with this system tonight. A weak cold front moving into the Boston area this morning will stall out across the South Coast and that will allow the afternoon sea breeze today. That front will become a warm boundary and push back into the Boston area tonight as an area of weak low pressure tracks across northern New England and shifts just east of Boston tomorrow morning. With the arrival of drier air, there should some clearing later tomorrow morning. The attached cold frontal boundary then heads southward and stalls near or south of New England on Wednesday so some of the cooler air will be invading the region on that day as the wind turns into the east again.
Looking ahead, after the secondary storm cuts across Cape Cod Friday night, the precipitation will shift offshore so Saturday will become partly sunny with temperatures rising to the middle 50s. There could be a brief shower Saturday night followed by sunny to partly cloudy weather in the 50s on Sunday. A cell of high pressure will be building into the Northeast after that so the long range outlook for the Boston Marathon is mainly sunny to partly cloudy with highs of 54-58 except upper 40s to lower 50s along the coast as light winds turn into a sea breeze. Beyond that, a changing weather pattern should support much warmer weather of upper 60s to upper 70s in 8-9 days. That, of course, is not a high confidence forecast this far in advance.
Todd Gutner posts a fresh blog late this afternoon or early this evening and I shall return tomorrow morning.
Make it a great day and GO SOX!!!!!
