Rainy Weekend

Well, we are now in the last days of July. Last night Tropical Storm Beryl turned out to be a dud for the Cape and Islands with the peak wind gust to 44 mph on the island of Nantucket. Rainfall from this T.S. ranged from around a half inch to two inches. Nothing to write home about. Beryl is quickly moving away and is quickly becoming extratropical and becoming nothing more than an ordinary upper latitude storm system.

However, there is a cool front coming into the area and ahead of it there is warm and very humid weather out there. Temperatures, with the sun at the noon hour, have responded nicely into the lower to mid 80's with dewpoints around 70, making it feel very oppressive out there. Showers and thunderstorms are forecasted to develop this afternoon around southern New England, and a few of them may be severe, with strong gusty winds, torrential rains, frequent cloud to ground lightning, and even some small hail possible.

For tomorrow morning, tonight's storms will clear out before more showers and thunderstorms develop in the afternoon again. Again, the rain with these storms could be quite heavy and we are generally going to see anywhere between 1-2" of rain from all the storms from this afternoon until it all tapers Sunday morning, before skies clear and the humidity subsides for a little in the afternoon on Sunday with highs around 80.

Things will heat up again later next week, starting on Tuesday. Temperatures on Tuesday could manage to hit 90, and again on Wednesday and right now temperatures may just be a little shy of 90 on Thursday, but there is a possibility of heat wave number 2 in Boston's western suburbs next week. Boston will likely not see a heat wave as the influences from the 66 degree ocean water is much too strong to keep away early afternoon sea breezes cooling the town substantially, while just outside of Boston is baking in temperatures over 90. Along with the heat later next week, a few isolated thunderstorms are possible on Wednesday and Thursday.

7 Day Forecast Courtesy of CBS 4 Boston ~ WBZ ~ Viacom

Heat Wave Grips Much of the Lower 48

Today's high at Boston's Logan International Airport was 89 degrees. That will make us start at day number one for the official heat wave as yesterday's high of 91 degrees will not be part of what could be our first official heat wave since August of 2002. We still could get a heat wave in Boston, Sunday through Tuesday.

Besides all that technical mumbo jumbo for records and stuff...to you and me...ITS DOWNRIGHT HOT OUT. Much of the lower 48 is under this Heat Wave. Today in North Dakota, temperatures throughout much of the state were in the 100-110 degree range. Further southeast into Chicago, IL, temperatures today were in the upper 90's to around 100 and tomorrow in the Windy City, the high could top 100 degrees. If you are looking towards the Rockies for relief from this heat, you would be mistaken. High temperatures for the cities of Denver and Salt Lake City tomorrow the 16th, will be around 100-105 degrees respectively. The only "relief" from the heat would be in Seattle, WA, as temperatures there have remained in the mid 70's with some marine air influence, keeping them out of this historic heat wave.

Blazing heat is definitely on the way with highs tomorrow in the upper 80's to around 90, add dew points around 70, and it will feel more like the lower to mid 90's out there tomorrow. Monday afternoon could be our hottest since last August when Boston hit 97 degrees. Up in the 5 day, I am calling for a high of 99 degrees, but that is for the hottest of areas, like Nashua and Concord, NH. More likely, Boston will top out around 94-96 degrees. That will be a similar forecast for Tuesday as well. Coupled with dew points in the lower to mid 70's, the real feel temperature will be more like in the 100-106 degree range.

Also, during this time, at night we will not really cool off. Tomorrow night, in the coolest areas, temperatures will fall into the upper 60's. In urban areas, like Boston and Lowell, temperatures overnight may remain in the lower to middle 70's. Monday night, overnight temperatures in the urban areas may stay in the mid to upper 70's! That is the normal daytime high temperature for mid June!

However on Tuesday there will be a cool front coming down from southeastern Canada that will touch off scattered showers and heavy thunderstorms. These storms will filter in some much drier air for Wednesday, but the temperatures will still remain on the warm side, mainly in the mid 80's.

Thereafter, expect the furnace to be put back on fully, with temperatures nearing 90 by late week, next week.

Stay cool.

Wild Tuesday...Tornadoes, Hail, Winds, and Torrential Rains..A Wednesday Repeat?

What an amazing day for weather here in southern New England! It was absolutely amazing. The day began with a severe thunderstorm in Rockingham Co., NH which quickly escalated into a Tornado Warning around midday. Reports of hail 3" in diameter in Exeter, NH! Also reports of a funnel cloud and possible touchdown as a brief tornado in Rye, NH at the same time. This area was absolutely hammered today with up to 5" of rainfall as well.

Then the area of focus was the North Shore of Massachusetts. Around 2:30PM, another Tornado Warning was issued for parts of Essex County. In Topsfield, MA there was a confirmed sighting of a funnel cloud, which Channel 7 News has gotten on picture in their special links above the forecast. Amazing photo.

Here in Woburn, MA, the rain, lightning, and hail was amazing. Vivid lighting and torrential rains were common from about noontime until 3:30PM. Hail of 1.25" in diameter was also seen here in Woburn as well. Just an all out crazy day. Rainfall totals here, just north of Boston in Middlesex and Essex counties ranged anywhere from 3-5" with these storms and more heavy rain is forecasted for tomorrow afternoon with possibly more severe thunderstorms as well.

Tomorrow will start off cloudy and very humid with temperatures right around 70 degrees. Then like today thunderstorms will start to develop, scattered, in the afternoon and then mesh into a general band of heavy heavy rain, with embedded thunderstorms, with even heavier rainfall. This will continue into the first part of Thursday and all said and done, anywhere from 3-6" of rain is likely here in the Boston metro area by Thursday afternoon.

Flooding will be quite likely around here tomorrow night and through Thursday. Street and urban flooding is definite during this storm's peak, but if we do indeed get up to a half a foot of rain over the areas that saw the 3-4" of rain from today, we could be seeing more substantial flooding. It is just something we will have to watch and see.

Anyhow, by Friday all the rain will become a distant memory as "drier" air will move into our region with the beginning of a HEAT WAVE likely as temperatures will top out around 90 by Friday and we will likely be in the 90's through the weekend with great beach weather and water temperatures are now starting to respond nicely as most are in the upper 60's to mid 70's.

Will have any important updates if warranted tomorrow or Thursday with the possible severe thunderstorm and potential life threatening flood threat more likely on Thursday, as well as the great details of the hot weekend on tap for us that we greatly deserve.

7 DAY FORECAST IS COURTESY OF CBS 4 BOSTON-WBZ4

Many Great Days Ahead...

Hope your 4th was nice and you managed to dodge the showers and severe thunderstorms. Hearing reports out of Hopedale, MA that there was a microburst from a severe thunderstorm that had straightline winds in excess of 90 MPH. Hope everyone is okay as there were many downed trees. Elsewhere, many areas saw a quick hitting heavy rain with wind that went by and many communities got off their fireworks display without incident. However, Nantucket had to postpone their fireworks until tonight because of fog. I am not so sure that they will be able to get the show off tonight either because of the rain down on the Cape.

Speaking of the rain down on the Cape today, it is associated with the front that is pushing through the area. A little ripple of low pressure developed and is now bringing a shield of rain from the South Shore on southward. Expect the rain to gradually pull southward and the South Shore should start to dry out by now, this afternoon, while the Cape and islands may see a damp night for the vacationers down there. North of the Pike, it is totally dry with overcast conditions and tempertures near 80. Cape Cod will stay in the lower to middle 70's during today's mini rainstorm. Generally expect total rainfall to be under one inch.

After today, the weather will turn out to be perfect for all outdoor activities, including going to the beach. We will transition into a period of perfect weather with low humidity for tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday with highs generally in the 80's, even on the east coast facing beaches. Humidity will increase on Sunday, but it will remain dry and warm with highs in the mid 80's. I will be pulling for Italy to win the World Cup Championship then. Right now Portugal and France are in the 48th minute with France on top 1-0. We will soon find out if the Italians will be hosting the French in the 2006 World Cup Championship game.

Monday will feature the same weather as Sunday with highs approaching the upper 80's to around 90, except around 80 on the South Coast and Cape. The Islands will stay in the 70's.

Enjoy the nice weather upcoming later this week.

Happy Independence Day

What a day this third day of July has turned out to be in eastern Massachusetts. The air is dry and the temperatures are very warm inland with highs in the mid and upper 80's, but upper 70's along the coast with an afternoon sea breeze. Perfect.

Out in western New England, there is currently a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the potential of severe thunderstorms until 9PM tonight. There were a few Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in northern CT and RI earlier, but those storms have started to weaken. To the south, dew points are starting to rise already with dew points in the mid to upper 60's.

Tomorrow will feature higher humidity and the heat will be with us for the Fourth. Highs should manage the lower to middle 80's before showers and thunderstorms start to develop anytime after 2PM. The window of highest threat for strong to severe thunderstorms, with frequent lightning, large hail, and strong gusty winds in excess of 60MPH, with likely be between 2PM to 8PM. At this time, I believe the NWS will likely hoist a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for much of southern New England as we will all be under the gun for severe weather to hamper Fourth celebrations.

For Wednesday, we will dry out for a time with highs managing the 80's once again before showers develop overnight as the front that went by on the Fourth will try and sneak its way back up here during this time. For Thursday, right now computer models have rain with the front just offshore of the Cape with a little area of low pressure on it. How close to this front will determine if we see organized masses of showers or just a plain steady rain. One computer model, the NAM, has anywhere between 1-2" of rain for areas to the south of the Mass Pike on Thursday morning, with areas to the north seeing much less rainfall. This is the most threatening of the computer models and the more trusted GFS model only has a few showers on the Cape for Thursday, with areas to the north of here even seeing some sunshine. Right now, I am going to side with the drier of the two scenarios at this point, but just mention that there is the possibility of some rainfall in the 5 Day.

After this speed bump in the forecast, Friday will feature clearing skies and temperatures will rebound back into the upper 80's to around 90, except around 80 on the South Coast and Cape. Humidity will also increase at this time and the heat looks to continue into this upcoming weekend with the nation east of the Rockies possibly going into a prolonged Heat Wave of greater than 6 days, which means once the 90's arrive on Saturday, they might be with us for a while afterwards. It is just something we will have to stay tuned to, just to see if this indeed does occur. At least summer has arrived and all these rainstorms seem to be a thing of the past. Hopefully. Just watching Thursday...

More Flooding...

More rainfall is on the way for Southern New England. Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, some severe, will crop up this afternoon and we are currently under a Flood Watch for 2-5" of rain through tomorrow night.

Rain will continue on and off until later next week and these are the final totals expected. More later.

HEAT INDEX OVER 100 TOMORROW

Happy Father's Day for all the fathers out there tomorrow. It should be an extremely HOT and humid day with highs generally in the mid 90's, except lower 80's on the Cape and upper 70's on Nantucket, where they will get some natural air conditioning from the ocean.

The rest of us will have to rely on electricity to keep us cool as heat indices tomorrow afternoon should be in the upper 90's to lower 100's. The dew points should make it into the upper 60's to around 70, making it feel downright oppressive. Tomorrow, there is the Commissioner's Cup in Wilmington, MA, the second day of tournament play, hoping Woburn beats Wilmington. Also, many of MA youth travel soccer teams are in Amherst, MA for the States. It should be very hot and dangerous to not keep hydrated. Temperatures in the morning should start in the mid 70's by 9AM, mid to upper 80's by NOON, lower 90's by 2PM, and mid to upper 90's by 4-5PM in Wilmington and Amherst tomorrow. Heat indices should hit their peak around 4PM, hitting 100-105. Be safe.

Monday will be another hot and humid day but a cool front from the west will be moving into our area in the afteroon, jeopardizing afternoon summer baseball games with heavy showers and strong to perhaps severe thunderstorms. Until then, temperatures will likely hit 90 again.

Tuesday, cooler and drier weather will be in place, but still expect highs in the lower 80's. The heat returns by later next week as SUMMER VACATION begins for many schools around here Thursday.

Heating Up..

After today's thunderstorms that caused localized street flooding throughout the area this afternoon mainly north of the Pike off the South Shore, the heat and humidity will come back in.

Highs in the 90's are likely all the way to the beaches by Father's Day and on Monday of next week, the last half week of school, for many in eastern Massachusetts, highs may be all the way into the middle 90's. Temperatures thereafter, may cool down on Tuesday with the passage of a cool front accompanied with some thunderstorms.

Tropics Warming Up for an Active Year

Well, you guessed it. Another day and it is raining again. Another rainy Saturday, but this crazy wet pattern will be breaking with a few catches, some good some bad.

The good news is that tomorrow will be totally dry with sunshine developing in the morning and the sky should remain partly cloudy, but there could be more clouds blocking the sun in the afternoon because when the sun bakes the ground, all the low level moisture from our week's worth of rain will evaporte and condense forming clouds, so the afternoon could very well turn out mostly cloudy. Hope not though. Highs should rebound into the lower 70's and on Monday the sun will be prodominent and highs will be back in the middle 70's for all those baseball and softball games and tee times. Should be a great day and Tuesday should be the same. Absolutely perfect.

Then all eyes turn to the TROPICS...

Tropical Depression ONE has developed just SW of Cuba this morning and is forecast to become Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the season, by late tonight or tomorrow. Right now it looks like anywhere from Tampa to just east of Pensacola on the Gulf Coast of Florida will be the target zone for this Tropical Storm to make landfall, winds at this point could be anywhere from 45-65 mph. Still too early to speculate on this right now. Then things get interesting as it speedily leaves the peninsula of Florida and regains some strength on the northeast coast of Florida. Current projections have this being a minimal tropical storm or just strong low pressure system at this time with lots of tropical rains and strong winds.

Does it hug the coast like a classic Nor'easter? Will it still keep its tropical characteristics? How much rain will it dump? How strong will it be?

These are some tough questions that will need to be answered because even if it is not a tropical storm when and if it arrives in Southern New England later next week, we just cannot hold anymore water in our saturated soil. In the past 40 or so days, Boston's Logan International Airport has received a record 18.43" of rain, likely with another half inch to three quarters of an inch iwth today's rain added on top of that. And parts of the North Shore in the Merrimack Valley have received anywhere between 20-28" of rain in the past month alone. The rivers are full. If this did make it all the way up the coast rainfall totals could easily surpass 4" and local amounts could even exceed 6". It would be a disaster.

Here is the current forecasted track from the National Weather Service. I will have more on this developing situation later on if this possible tropical system becomes an imment threat to Boston and New England.

June Nor'easter

Heavy rains are starting to an end across the Bay State this evening after today's early summer Nor'Easter. Rain was excepitonally heavy towards the South Shore today as rainfall totals across this area ranged from mainly 4-7". Farther to the northwest, rainfall amounts gradually tapered to between 1-4". This is after last weekends 2-6" of rain and a mid May's 6-20". Winds today also gusted to near 45 mph at Logan International as well.

Tomorrow will bring a day of early morning showers then just turn cloudy with occasional showers and drizzle to keep it a wet and cool day. Friday more rain will develop. Friday's rain does not look to be as potent or heavy as today's storm. Once we get to the weekend, the sun will come back out and temperatures will slowly warm to near normal levels; mid 70's by early next week. Stay dry.