Summer Soon!
It's almost time for a change of the seasons as spring ends this week and the summer solstice occurs at 1:04 am this Friday. That is the moment that many of have been waiting for to hear that summer has started. We're enjoying the longest days of the year now at 15 hours and 17 minutes of daylight per day. The longest day occurs this Friday at a few seconds shy of 15 hours and 18 minutes but the earliest sunrise actually took place 3 days ago and it is already a few seconds later just slightly past 5:07 am. The latest sunset does not happen until June 26 at several seconds after 8:25 pm. If you want much more daylight than that, take a trip to Alaska this time of the year. In the Alaskan Time Zone which is 4 hours later than ours, today's sunrise in Anchorage is 4:19 am and the sunset is 11:39pm. In Fairbanks, today's sunrise is 2:59 am and the sunset occurs at 12:45 am tomorrow! It was 10 years ago that I took my family on our greatest excursion ever for 2-3 weeks to The Last Frontier. My oldest son and I were jogging in bright sunshine after 11pm! Coincidentally, some hot weather is ongoing there now with predicted high temperatures today of 84-94 degrees in south central sections of the state away from the ocean! Anchorage will strike 87 degrees today and McGrath, AK could set the highest temperature ever recorded there today at 94 degrees and that will be about 10 degrees higher than Boston!
With the seasonal transition taking place this week, it looks like the weather pattern is going to phase into a more typical summery setup featuring mainly scattered showers and storms associated with frontal boundaries. There should be an absence of organized cyclones dumping drenching rains like last week as the jet stream migrates farther north. A weak front passed through the region late yesterday and last night. It produced considerable cloudiness with most of the showers falling over northern New England yesterday afternoon. Another front is on its way for today and this one will be running into a more favorable atmospheric environment to trigger scattered showers and storms from about mid-afternoon into the early evening hours. A few of these storms could be strong. Before that action arrives, the morning will be sunny and the warming will be swift so midday temperatures near or just over 80 are likely. The southwesterly wind will blow at 8-16 mph for the most part so that means south-facing coastal areas will be mainly in the 70s. The ocean temperatures are in the middle to upper 50s and the high tide occurs at 6 am and 6:30 pm. The storms will weaken and dissipate early this evening then some fog will form in the lowlands later at night as the air remains moist. It will cool off to 60-65. Another spell of showery weather is anticipated tomorrow and some of those showers may develop earlier closer to midday in the vicinity of the frontal boundary which will be slowly sinking southward across southern New England. With much less sunshine than today, it will be cooler with highs in the middle 70s.
Looking ahead, a zone of high pressure will build eastward from the Great Lakes to provide some really nice weather Wednesday through Friday. There is a slight risk that the frontal boundary may still be close enough to create residual cloudiness Wednesday morning over southeastern MA with showers near Nantucket but that should all shift offshore by midday. The humidity will be low with dewpoints mostly in the 50s. The high temperatures will be generally in the 75-80 range Wednesday and Thursday when there will be a sea breeze so it will be a bit cooler than that at the beaches. After that, it will be warmer Friday with highs in the lower 80s. Next weekend may be somewhat unsettled with a few showers and storms especially up north but it should be warm with highs in the middle 80s many areas.
Todd Gutner post hid blog early this evening and I shall return early tomorrow morning.
Make it a great day!
