THURS-6:05P: WIND ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN HOISTED REGION-WIDE FOR WESTERLY WIND GUSTS OF 35-50MPH TOMORROW AFTERNOON AND EVENING… RAIN, HEAVY AT TIMES, CONTINUES TONIGHT, AND DEPARTS BY SUNRISE… A FAIR BUT BLUSTERY FRIDAY GIVES WAY TO MORE RAIN SHOWERS TOMORROW EVENING, TURNING TO SNOW SHOWERS IN THE HIGH TERRAIN WITH LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE IN A FEW SPOTS… BREEZY SATURDAY, WARMER SUNDAY AHEAD WITH SUNSHINE APLENTY (WHICH NOW MAKES ME WANT SOME SALLY’S APIZZA)…

Good evening folks, we’ve had solid amounts of rainfall for some areas, mainly north of the Pike, with over an inch in spots already.

Watch out for ponding on road ways, and the potential for hydroplaning, especially along the Route 2 corridor in northern MA where the heaviest rain is falling this early evening.

Our storm is currently over Pennsylvania and will run right over Massachusetts tonight and into the early morning, dragging a cold front through the region as it does so.

Temps currently in the 50s to low 60s (mainly in northern CT at the 6pm hour) will fall into the upper 40s to low 50s tonight for lows, and showers will continue until the pre-dawn hours and should quit by 6am or so, and ship off to the east with our storm.

This is when the cold front will track through the region, and we should see a mix of sun and clouds tomorrow, lasting into the mid afternoon or so.

With highs expected to reach the low 50s to low 60s, and with temperatures about 2 miles aloft expected to only be in the teens, this will create a sharp- temperature gradient (a/k/a thermal lapse rates, or just lapse rates).

These sharper lapse rates (which help wind aloft mix down to the surface) will combine with the surface pressure gradient between our low to the east and our high to the west (which produces stronger winds, as wind is just air moving from high to low pressure), and will consequently produce strong westerlies tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Gusts of 35-50mph will be possible tomorrow across the region, and so some isolated outages and tree damage will be possible.

Temps will plummet as the wind picks up as we get later into the afternoon, and clouds will move back into the region from north to south.

Another disturbance will drop southeast into the region with colder air, and bring rain showers that will turn to snow showers for some folks in southern VT, northwest MA, northern Worcester County, eastern Franklin County, and the Monadnock Region of southwest NH.

Coatings are possible, and up to an inch or two could accumulate in the high terrain areas above 2000 feet. Peaks above 3000 feet may even see 2-5″ (Greylock, Snow, Stratton, Monadnock, etc.).

Lows will drop into the low to mid 30s for much of the WMass and CMass region, with some upper 30s possible in northern CT and some upper 20s possible in SVT and SWNH.

Any rain and snow quits during the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning, but the wind will still be blowing up to 40mph or so overnight, and continue to gust to 30mph on Saturday which looks mostly sunny and seasonable with highs in the 50s to near 60º.

Sunday looks partly sunny and warmer, with 60s to low 70s, and more showers are possible by early next week, with no big warm-ups in sight at the moment.

Anyway, I just wanted to update you on the latest weather changes, as we’re active through Saturday afternoon, then we get a little break.

The weekend looks quite nice overall, especially on Sunday.

Have a great evening!

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THURS-6:55A: SHOWERS ARRIVE AROUND NOON, WITH HEAVIER AND STEADIER RAINS THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT… COLD FRONT PASSES FRIDAY MORNING, WITH GUSTY WESTERLY WINDS INTO THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS THAT SHOULD TURN TO SNOW IN SOUTHERN VT WEST OF BRATTLEBORO AND POSSIBLY THE BERKSHIRES AND THE NORTWESTERN HILLTOWNS OF FRANKLIN/HAMPSHIRE COUNTIES… BREEZY/COOL SATURDAY WITH MORE SHOWERS AT NIGHT…MILDER, CLOUDIER SUNDAY, WITH MORE SHOWERS BY EARLY NEXT WEEK AS FRONTAL BOUNDARIES GALORE FOIST A MULTITUDE OF LIQUID HYDROMETEORS UPON OUR SEMI-PARCHED SURFACES…

Good morning folks, here we are having another daily digital convention, which means we’re still engaged in respiration – interestingly you can live for weeks without food, days without water, but only a few minutes without oxygen, so enjoy some slow deep breaths today, especially if you get stressed out for any reason. At first glance, it feels like it would do nothing, but it’s proven to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which moves you from Stress Response to the Relaxation Response, and the latter feels better and produces a regenerative biochemistry.

To sum it up like a CroMagnon: deep breathing good.

#TheMoreYouKnow

As for our weather, we’re starting off mild, and fully saturated, with lots of areas reporting fog as air temps and dewpoint temps have become One in the same, which equals 100% humidity, or total saturation of air with moisture.

This will burn off with time, but the clouds will remain as we have another area of low pressure that will move along the front draped over southern New England.

This disturbance will bring showers by later morning into early afternoon, and then steadier and heavier rainfall with a couple of thunderstorms this evening and tonight, with .75-1.5″ total rainfall by tomorrow at noon.

In other words, a solid soaking is on the way.

Highs today will generally reach the low to mid 60s, but it’s possible that the front bobs into northern CT and pushes some of the southern parts of the northern CT counties into the low 70s.

This is the area where a strong thunderstorm may develop with some gusty winds, given that lapse rates (i.e. stronger temperature gradient from surface to sky) would be steeper in this area.

So, showers arrive late morning to early afternoon, continue in scattered fashion through the afternoon, and then fill in and convert into a more of a stratiform rainshield, with heavier cells embedded within it tonight into the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning, with lows in the upper 40s to low 50s. Patchy fog is expected in spots once again.

For early on Friday, our cold front will push through the region as the low departs east-northeast for Atlantic Canada, developing explosively as it does so. With high pressure building in from the Great Lakes, the pressure gradient and air mass change will produce wind gusts up to 40mph at times tomorrow, especially in the afternoon during the peak heating of the day as a cold pool moves overhead, producing steeper lapse rates, which help to mix wind down to the ground.

Highs will only reach the low 50s (maybe upper 40s for southern VT?) to near 60º on Friday, and while we will get some periods of sunshine in here, clouds will work back in later in the day as another upper level disturbance floats toward the region.

Temps will be plummeting in the afternoon, so expect a chillier, blustery second half of our Friday, so dress accordingly.

In addition, as colder air works in, an area of rain showers will fill back in across the SVT and WMass region later in the afternoon and evening, and will turn to snow at night over parts of northwest MA and the southern Greens, and we can’t rule out a coating to an inch or two of snow by Saturday morning, as lows will dip into the 30-35º range with continued breezy conditions – a brief wintry taste is in store as turn the calendar to May!

By Saturday, we snap back to Spring with highs well into the 50s to near 60º and any very light snow accumulations melting under that strong/high sun angle.

It’ll still be breezy with winds out of the northwest gusting to 30mph at times. Lows will drop into the upper 30s to low 40s with clouds increasing and a few scattered showers moving through the region with a warm frontal passage.

For Sunday, a partly sunny day is expected with warmer temps, and highs cresting into the 65-70º range. Clouds will thicken at night, as yet another disturbance works towards the region. Lows will hover around 50º.

For Monday, showers are expected with highs in the mid 60s to low 70s, and showery periods will be possible into the middle of next week as a frontal boundary lays about the region, focusing broad lift and rain production at times.

Have a great day and pack the umbrella!