Good morning folks, clouds continued to thicken and showers have already been scattered about in parts of our region, especially in the Berkshires with rain reported in Pittsfield at 7am. This mottled rain shield will continue to expand east as a mid-level front punches over our region about a mile up providing some lift, and our rainy and showery Sunday will be the result.

High temps will only reach the low 50s to low 60s for most of us, which is the coolest day we’ve had since last Spring as Astronomical Summah wafts away like a Fall leaf flittering and spinning down to the ground.

Rainfall should be light to moderate in intensity and more of a stratiform-type (i.e. broadly steadier and more consistent intensity-wise) than the summery convective downpours and fits and starts we’ve dealt with over the summer.

I think by noon to early afternoon the rain will fill in and become steadiest, but no doubt some folks will ebb, others will flow, and it’ll be like that today into tonight, before it tapers off around or after midnight from west to east.

Again, roughly a third of an inch to an inch or so of rainfall should do it for most of us, and some high terrain areas may ring out over an inch due to orographic uplift effects (i.e. the presence of mountains forcing air to rise over them, condensing, and producing heavier totals there).

Lows will drop into the mid 40s to low 50s overnight with patchy fog late as we start to slowly dry out into Monday.

Once we push into the upcoming work week, starting tomorrow / Monday, strong high pressure will be building south through eastern Ontario and Quebec, and will dry us out, producing partly sunny skies on average through at least Thursday.

The only exception to that is Tuesday when a second system tries to push toward New England but is likely shunted south by high pressure in Quebec. That is likely to produce more of a mostly cloudy day in our region, especially south of the Rt. 2 corridor.

Highs Monday will reach the upper 50s to upper 60s with lows in the 40s, and then we’ll cool down into the mid 50s to mid 60s for highs with lows in the upper 30s to mid 40s during Tuesday through Thursday night.

By the time we get to the Friday-thru-weekend period, I continue to see a strong nor’easter being signaled to develop south of Cape Cod and Islands, the result of interaction between an incoming upper low from the west, and our strong high pressure system along the northern New England border.

The trend overnight has been to slow down the arrival of this storm system which could allow it to strengthen even more over antecedent warm ocean waters from our Summer pattern.

Not only that, but as it comes north it may be directed west towards Block Island, RI, so it could linger for several days with impacts of wind and rainfall in parts of the greater WMass region, if not all of it with cool temps, strong wind gusts, and moderate to even heavy rain at times.

All this to say, I will keep you updated as this would be an early arrival of a winter-pattern type storm without the winter precipitation types.

Rarely a dull moment when it comes to New England weather… post your soup pics later, and have a great day!

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
― Joseph Campbell

YOUR DAILY NUTSHELL(S)
SUNDAY:
–Periods of light to moderate rain move in thru morning
–Highs only reach the low 50s to low 60s, cool and raw feel
–A day for soup, puttering, reading, football, quietude
–Showers last into the evening, quit by midnight
–Roughly a third of an inch to an inch of rain expected
–Lows mid 40s to low 50s, patchy fog late

MONDAY- THURSDAY:
–Partly sunny on average except cloudier Tuesday
–Highs upper 50s to upper 60s Monday, lows in the 40s
–Otherwise Tues. thru Thurs. highs mid 50s to mid 60s, lows upper 30s to mid 40s
–Dry weather expected throughout, lower humidity

FRIDAY-SATURDAY:
–Uncertainty increases regarding coastal storm timing, impacts
–Temps remain similar to much of the week as per above
–Strong high pressure over southern Quebec combines with incoming upper low
–This looks to pop a strong coastal low by Friday into Saturday
–Strong wind gusts up to 40mph and moderate to heavy rain possible
–Trend for now is for weekend impacts, but some showers possible Friday

YOUR DAILY CELESTIALS
STAR:
–OUR STAR ROSE AT: 6:35am this morning
–OUR STAR SETS AT: 6:50pm this evening
–TOTAL DAYLIGHT TIME: 12 hours 15 minutes

MOON:
–OUR MOON RISES AT: 3:59pm this afternoon
–MOON RISE DIRECTION: Southeast
–OUR MOON SETS AT: 12:58am tomorrow morning
–MOON SET DIRECTION: Southwest
–MOON PHASE: Waxing Gibbous (65.3% Illumination)