Vacation Week Weather
HAPPY JULY!
It's probably the biggest vacation week of the year and the weather is ultra important to so many people. It's usually a given that the first week of July contains hot and muggy weather much of the time. The main other variable is the rain factor. Most people want to enjoy outside activities and that is dependent upon the radar scope. Other than the nasty boomers which blasted parts of Cape Cod early Saturday, much of the rest of eastern MA escaped the storms over this past weekend which was a nice bonus. It now appears that the stage is set for showers and thunderstorms to be more widespread through tomorrow. Portions of Cape Cod already received some showers this morning and another blooming bundle is taking shape over NY and PA. This action should progress northeastward into western and northwestern New England while more showers advance into southeastern MA. Additional showers and boomers will fill in the slot from NYC to Boston. The highest frequency of showers and storms will be placed from north central MA and points southwest, west, northwest, north and northeast and that is where the National Weather Service has posted a Flash Flood Watch. I reiterate that those who will be traveling, hiking, climbing and camping this week especially along creeks, streams and rivers in mountain valley locations should be cautious about the potential tropical drenching downpours which could produce flooding suddenly.
Sunshine will be very limited today as a couple weak perturbations lift into the area on the western flank of a huge high pressure system anchored offshore. This may be repeated tomorrow before the ridge of high pressure changes position by retrogression and a more east-west orientation. This will cut off the flow up the eastern seaboard and greatly reduce the shower and thunderstorm threat over southern New England. However across northwestern MA into much of northern New England, there will still be some showers and storms breaking out through the 4th of July and beyond. This region will still be favorable corridor where minor short waves could be steered eastward from northern NY. With just a few peeks of sunshine today, the temperature will easily slightly exceed 80 degrees. As the week progresses, increasing sunshine bit by bit will boost the temperatures higher by a few degrees. With fewer storms expected Wednesday, highs will reach or surpass the middle 80s and they will likely nudge 90 on the 4th of July. Presently, I feel that the fireworks displays in many communities will not be impacted by the weather on the 4th! YAY! After that, 90-94 is probable Friday through the weekend with, again, most of the mid-afternoon to mid-evening showers and storms confined to northern New England. The humidity will be high to oppressive for at least the next 8-10 days! There is NO break from this ugly muggy weather and that is depressing for many of us. Your electricity bills will be ramping up thanks to the constant need of a/c and fans. The beach folks and boaters should keep an eye to the sky over the next couple of days for changeable conditions including some nasty cloud to ground lightning and downpours. The tide will be low at 1-2 pm today and tomorrow. The ocean temperatures are in the range of 60-65 and the wind will be southerly at 10-20 kts. with seas of 2-4 feet. The risk of rip currents is high on portions of the South Coast where seas of 4-6 feet are occurring.
In review of June, the most notable feature was, of course, the rainy weather. Boston's total for the month of 10.50" was almost 7" above the average and it makes June 2013 the 3rd wettest on record after the 13.82" in 1982 and the 11.58" in 1998. Worcester's 10.06" was the 2nd wettest and Providence's 10.08" was also the 2nd wettest. Boston's June mean temperature of 69.6 degrees was 1.9 degrees above the average. The city's high temperature of 95 degrees occurred on the 24th and the low of 53 happened on the 14th. There was one heat wave on the 23rd through the 25th with highs of 91, 95 and 92 degrees respectively. Looking ahead through July, the average high temperature starts out at 80 degrees on the 1st and ends at 82 on the 31st. The highest temperatures of the year, on average, occur between July 20 and 25th. Two years ago on the 22nd, it reached a record-breaking 103 in Boston! The all-time record high for the city is 104 set back on July 4, 1911. Since the longest day of the year on June 21st, there has been a decrease of daylight amounting to more than 2 minutes already. In July, the sunrise starts at 5:11 and ends at 5:36 while the sunset starts at 8:25 and ends at 8:05. That is a total daylight decrease of 45 minutes!
Todd Gutner posts his blog early this evening and I shall return early tomorrow morning.
Make it a great day!
