The battle over rain is waging in the skies above us. Parched landscape, streams and rivers down to a trickle, fall foliage hanging in the balance – there’s a lot riding on the water. At this critical time, you’d think the guidance (models we use to forecast) would be in cahoots about the storm track and amounts of rain we’re expecting.
We should be so lucky.
It’s not winter, so we can’t pin the disparity on the season. We also can’t blame any tropical system for interfering, either. So what could cause the guidance to become unreliable or wonky? Clusters of thunderstorms out over the Gulf Stream are giving them fits. They have a hard time consolidating the storms and they spin around a storm (low pressure) center. The interaction between the low pressure system and the thunderstorms affects its track and intensity. And therein lies our difficulties in finding the areas of steady/heavy rain.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
For now, we’ll play it conservatively and say most areas of eastern Massachusetts will see "some" rain on Wednesday, with more off/on showers across central Massachusetts. It’s important to realize that even with a direct hit, this is isn’t an end to the drought, just a good shot of rain in a time of desperation.
Winds could kick up along the coast during the storm. Some gusts could be as high as 30 mph on the Cape and Islands. While we wait for the dust to settle on the forecast, Tuesday is pretty quiet. Sun gives way to clouds, highs near 80, 70s at the coast.
