Muggies On The Menu
After yesterday's highs in the range of 64-68 most places, the warmth radiated to space and many of the suburbs cooled to the 30s overnight. Some of the lowland locations dropped to freezing with a touch of frost. There will be a nice recovery today but it will be a bit cooler inland and 10 or more degrees lower along the coast than it was yesterday. The sea breeze will be blowing from the get-go albeit initially light followed by a freshening to 10-22 mph as the day progresses. The direction will veer from northeast to east to southeasterly. Expect highs of 49-53 near the coastline ranging up to 60-64 farther inland more than 15 miles from the sea. Sunshine will eventually yield to some patchy high and mid-level cloudiness especially up north. By the way, today's 5:58 sunrise is the first one before 6am since August 22! I guess summer is not too far away.
Temperatures will hold steady or rise slightly along the coast tonight while they will drop 5-10 degrees inland so all locations will be closer to the middle 50s at dawn tomorrow. It will actually feel more like summer tomorrow mainly because the humidity will be much higher. Dewpoints will be climbing to the upper 50s to near 60 and that is in the muggy zone but not oppressive. As the south-southwesterly wind ramps up to 15-35 mph, south-facing coastal areas will be chilled by the wind blowing across the chilly Atlantic. Over Cape Ann and along the New England South Coast extending inland several miles, the temperatures will max out in the middle 50s to near 60. Farther inland from that cooling wind, it will warm through the 60s to near 70. The warmest zone will be farther northwest of Boston from northwestern Essex County, northern Middlesex County and northern Worcester County into southern interior NH where 70-74 is quite probable. This all happens despite the lack of sunshine. A layer of low clouds may break briefly from place to place to reveal glimpses of the sun but there is also a risk of a few passing spotty showers in the muggier air mass. An approaching cold front will be triggering a band of showers and embedded heavy boomers in NY and PA during the day. This action will shift into western New England from early to mid-evening with arrival in eastern sections by late evening. The heavier showers will move offshore in the early morning hours as the frontal boundary passes. However, there will be some post frontal lighter rains lingering past dawn on Saturday. It looks like the system is accelerating a bit from yesterday's thinking. As a result, the rain should terminate in the Boston area by 9-10am and over Cape Cod near or just past noon. A secondary cold frontal passage is due at midday so there will be a changeable sky with varying amounts of clouds into the afternoon as the sunshine takes charge later in the day. There will be a brisk westerly wind as temperatures rise from morning lows in the lower 50s to afternoon highs near or slightly over 60.
Looking ahead, bright sunny weather will prevail on Sunday with highs of 53-57 as a strengthening zone of high pressure shifts across southern Canada and ridges into the Northeast. Consequently, there will be a cool northeasterly wind setting in Sunday afternoon and lasting through the first half of next week as a wave of low pressure attempts to form off the North Carolina coast. Latest guidance suggests that there is less support for this feature to energize and blossom into New England on Tuesday. Thus, the potential for a windswept soaking rain on Tuesday has dwindled to just a high probability of increasing cloudiness with little or no rain until Wednesday. That moisture offshore and south of us will be captured and pulled into the region by a deepening trough of low pressure closing in from the west. The wettest weather now seems more likely from next Wednesday afternoon into Thursday.
Todd Gutner posts a fresh blog early this evening and I shall return early tomorrow morning.
Make it a great day!
