One day of sunshine was nice Wednesday, but clouds and raindrops have returned Thursday and will finish out the week with us.
Thursday doesn’t amount to a washout, though, and it’s possible Friday will see some late daytime salvaged if a slug of morning and midday rain moves through quickly enough.
For now, an influx of warmer and more moist air aloft is moving into New England from the south, on a strengthening and expanding southerly wind ahead of a storm system slowly churning east out of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. That new warmth and moisture colliding with existing cool air has been enough for a round of showers and rain to expand from south to north.
Once the influx of warmth slows a bit Thursday afternoon, the rain will slow, too, contracting to leftover showers around the Connecticut River Valley Thursday afternoon. Lingering sprinkles from lots of clouds elsewhere will give many communities some time for kids to run off energy after remote learning. Families can take a walk, albeit in cool air, under clouds and on still-moist ground.
Clouds Thursday night will couple with a southeast wind to ensure temperatures stay fairly mild before another shot of rain expands over New England before dawn Friday. The rain will last through Friday morning and midday, dropping localized downpours and even some embedded thunder.
By Friday afternoon, the bulk of the rain will be shifting east, but the upper atmosphere energy that drove the storm center will still be approaching from the east. This means scattered showers or even rumbles of thunder may still develop late Friday into Friday evening, and a few showers may linger through Friday night and even into early Saturday morning in eastern New England.
Saturday brings improvement! A developing north-northwest wind carries in drier air but not cool air, so as our rainmaking storm center pulls away to the east, sunshine takes over and temperatures rise into the 60s.
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Sunday looks to be the best of the next ten days: fair sky and temperatures near 70 degrees. We’ll be very close to seeing a sea breeze develop, so some coastal locales may not be quite as mild if that sea breeze does indeed develop, though right now we think most communities will stave off an ocean wind.
Next week doesn’t look warm – it won’t be as cool as this week began (in other words, high temperatures shouldn’t be stuck in the lower 40s) but we’ll turn cooler than normal again. After our lovely weekend, high temperatures will generally range between 55 to 60 degrees with occasional showers possible Monday and again around Wednesday and Thursday in the exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast.
