Unsettled Forecast into the Holiday Weekend

WEDNESDAY - We have ourselves some really weird weather going on here in SNE. Every single day for what seems like the past month we have been fair game for showers and thunderstorms here in the SNE area. Every single day there is the threat of some severe weather and we got it today. Yesterday's severe weather was more confined to areas further west of the city out past Worcester and into CT, but today we were ground zero here in eastern SNE. Boston got pounded with storms between 2-3PM this afternoon with ponding on major roadways in and out of Boston that were flooded to the point where motorists had to leave their stranded cars. There are unofficial reports of nearly golfball sized hail just north of Norwood, MA this afternoon with a cell that moved from the southern part of the I-495 belt and moved northeastward slowly up past Weston/Waltham and up towards Medford and Stoneham and eventually hit towns like Lynn, Saugus, Reading, and exited off of Rockport, MA this afternoon. There were severe storms all over SNE this afternoon, with the most concentrated area from Worcester eastward to Boston and down on the South Shore to the North Shore and even parts of southern/central NH and ME.

After today's severe weather, we have another substantial shot at severe weather tomorrow afternoon, later in the afternoon this time, say starting in western New England after 2-3PM and not getting into eastern New England until after 4-6PM. This will allow temperatures to really get warm here in SNE. Some parts of our area will get into the low 90's, Boston is fair game for this type of heat, with 80's out in Worcester. This will be all the fuel needed for a cold front to spark off a line of severe thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon as it charges through our area. These storms will get stalled on the front that makes it just past Long Island, but kind of stays there all day on the Fourth.

This leaves us with a tricky Independence Day forecast. Right now I would say that if you are off of the South Coast and the Cape then you will likely stay dry for the entire Fourth and into fireworks time. But areas near that stalled front could be threatened by some showers and thunderstorms. It all depends on how far north that front is. If its further north, we could get showers and thunderstorms possibly up to Boston and its suburbs. However, right now, I would go with a low chance of precipitation on the South Coast and Cape Cod with basically a slight to zero chance north of the Pike, including Boston. This could turn out to be our driest day of the next bunch because after that, the front will come back north and we will be back into the pit of showers and thunderstorms every afternoon, after suffering through sweltering mornings and early afternoons where you can almost see the humidity. It seems the Summer of 2008 has picked its theme for SNE and we better get used to the threat of thunderstorms and severe weather almost every afternoon. It is in the forecast for the next week.

Also, interesting to note, in the tropics, there is something to watch that came off the coast of Africa that just caught the attention of some forecasters that it could form into our second named storm of the season, which is noteworthy since we are still a little over a month into Cape Verde season, where we see depressions develop off the African coast. This one could defy the odds and develop, so we will have to wait and see, but it is so far away from the lower 48 at this time, it is still 1.5 to 2 weeks away from posing any type of threat to landmass. So just throw it in the back of your mind and just check up on it in a few days to see if it developed. It's no big deal at this time.

That said, I hope you all have a good Fourth holiday and I will likely post again following the holiday and have an update as to when this stubburn showery pattern may finally come to an end and to see if we have something to be worried about in the tropics. Yeah, and the Rays are in first by 3.5 games on the Fourth!?