forecast

FIRST ALERT: Stifling Heat to Give Way for Cooler Air Later This Week

A brand new wind direction, from the north and northeast, will follow the passing cold front, supplying the new, cooler, less humid air that will take hold of New England through the end of the week

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Severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect Monday afternoon in parts of Maine and northern New Hampshire, but they have since expired.

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An end to the heat and humidity is in sight, but New England has a couple more days to go before we get there. 

Boston broke another heat record on Monday, reaching 97 degrees as of 1 p.m. The old record of 96 was set in 1983.

A well-defined frontal boundary separating cooler Canadian air from the heat and humidity in place across the eastern half of the United States is producing a well-defined line of showers and thunderstorms, which sags very slowly into New England Monday and Tuesday, opening the door to that Canadian air that will be firmly in place by midweek. 

Some of New England is already seeing the change to cooler air. Northern Maine finds rain on Monday and temperatures that will hover in the 60s throughout the day, and while the rest of northern New England is still warm and humid, the slowly sagging front inching south will result in clusters of rain and thunder in the North Country Monday afternoon into night. 

That same cold front will cross the remainder of New England Tuesday, increasing our cloud cover but also raising our chance for thunderstorms as the cooler air cuts into ample heat and humidity, with one more day Tuesday well into the 90s and pushing 100 degrees in a few spots, with thick, humid air producing a heat index over 100 degrees, yet again, for some southern New England communities.

The entire state of Mass. is under some sort of drought status, mounting concerns over fire issues.

When scattered to widespread thunderstorms develop in central and southern New England, they’ll feed off the heat and humidity to produce torrential downpours, lightning and very likely some pockets of damaging wind during the afternoon to evening hours as the storms migrate from north to south across central and southern New England. 

A brand new wind direction, from the north and northeast, will follow the passing cold front, supplying the new, cooler, less humid air that will take hold of New England through the end of the week. 

Because the change is so dramatic – and doesn’t happen all at once through all levels of the atmosphere, with warmth and humidity holding on a bit longer aloft and continuing to battle back against the cool push – showers are likely to crop up both Wednesday and Thursday in New England, particularly southern New England. 

By Friday, the chance of showers isn’t zero, but certainly begins decreasing as drier air takes hold at all levels of the atmosphere and that new air will ensure a delightful weekend, looking great with fair skies and feeling great with high temperatures in the 70s and 80s. 

Warmth and humidity will slowly rebuild next week, but isn’t expected to reach the extreme levels of the past several days in our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast.

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