forecast

Rain and Chill Takes Hold of New England for Holiday Weekend

The first batch of rain should make it into western New England early this afternoon and by dinner time it will reach the coast in eastern Massachusetts and to the New Hampshire seacoast

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We had a pretty remarkable stretch of nice weekend weather for the month of May in New England - so far, anyway. Unfortunately, that streak ends here on Memorial Day weekend.

Cold high-pressure across southeastern Canada allowed temperatures to get down below freezing at the Canadian border this morning.

With some sunshine, this same area that was so cold this morning might be the warmest by this afternoon because of increasing clouds across southern areas.

But it is a colder day for all of us, with a high temperature in the 50s to lower 60s as clouds thicken up from west to east.

The same front that generated the severe weather on Wednesday stalled off to our south, and now we have waves of low pressure rippling along it, generating periods of rain and wind beginning this afternoon and continuing into Monday.

It is very challenging to try and time and place each wave of energy.

It looks like the first batch of rain should make it into western New England early this afternoon. The northern edge of the rain likely stays in southern Vermont to Southern New Hampshire.

By dinner time rain is going to reach the coast in eastern Massachusetts and to the New Hampshire seacoast. Technically it’s not an old-school nor’easter, but it likely will look and feel like one tonight and early tomorrow morning.

Even though it's not a strong low pressure system to our south, it is a strong high-pressure system to our north. That will generate wind from the northeast gusting past 40 miles an hour near the shore late tonight and tomorrow morning.

Rain should taper to showers during the afternoon from west to east. The best weather is in far northern New England tomorrow with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. We will dry it out a little bit in southern New England with temperatures in the 50s.

Some of the tallest hills of central New England may actually have a little sleet mixed with the rain tonight and early tomorrow morning.

Another wave of energy is likely to bring a period of rain Sunday afternoon. And then maybe even another one early Monday. So the forecast does not change very much. The biggest question is - will the rain reach all the way into northern Vermont in northern Maine? That may happen. If so, it will probably happen Sunday afternoon into early Monday.

It’s certainly not going to be raining all the time, but has a cold and damp theme through Memorial day. Three day rainfall amounts may exceed 2 inches, especially near the south coast, so at least our gardens get watered and the pollen is washing away.

We are hoping for a little bit of a break for the Memorial Day ceremony’s midday Monday. There is a chance that the sun could come out. Summertime warmth returns again later next week as seen in our First Alert 10-Day Forecast.

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