Ahhh some improvement…better late than never!

Posted by Danielle Niles May 29, 2009 at 2:00 pm

After a dreary, dismal stretch of weather these past few days, we could all use some sunshine. The fog didn’t seem to want to budge across parts of eastern New England through mid afternoon, and admittedly, temperatures are still cool in many spots right now. While showers continue to push through parts of Maine and southeastern New England, sunshine is breaking out in a few areas. The hope here is that more pockets of sunshine will develop over the next several hours. That being said, we’re in a bit of a catch-22 here, because a little bit of sun is all we need today in order to destabilize the atmosphere just enough to spark some evening thunderstorms. And what about the weekend forecast, you ask? I think it’s going to be an interesting one…

But before I jump into the details – let’s talk about the rest of today first. Temperatures are very dependent on sunshine as you know, and by the end of the day, a lot of us will be in the 60s with some of the “warmer” spots reaching the lower 70s across western New England. The best chance for strong thunderstorm development will be across southern VT, western MA, and western CT – so keep an eye to the sky later on and be prepared to take cover if necessary. Overnight tonight, there will be scattered showers and a few isolated thunderstorms around as a cold front pushes through and temperatures drop into the upper 40s to middle 50s.

Now on to the weekend. The reason I mention that this weekend could be interesting is because we have a large amount of energy in the upper levels of our atmosphere that will be pushing through New England on both Saturday and Sunday. These “disturbances” are quick moving though, and each piece of energy will bring the risk of some showers/thunderstorms.

So while we’ll wake up to sunshine Saturday morning, clouds will bubble up throughout the day, as a secondary cold front moves through bringing a chance for showers/thunderstorms, mainly across central and northern New England. Temperatures will be seasonable – which will feel pleasant compared to the past few days. Sunday will be similar in a few respects; we’ll start of with sunshine, and watch the clouds build during the afternoon. Low pressure will track through southern Quebec, draping it’s associated cold front through the region – just as a trough digs down into New England. With very cold temperatures aloft, there will be a steep lapse rate – or the change in temperature with height – which produces instability. That’s why we have a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast for Sunday as well. I think the best chance will be across northern New England, with the risk for strong to severe storms in parts of Maine. Any storms that do develop will have the potential for frequent lightning, damaging wind and hail. Otherwise we’ll be looking at temperatures in the low 70s for parts of southern New England, but cooler conditions to the north, upper 50s and 60s. Winds will become active out of the west-northwest behind this front, gusting to 30 mph.

So do I think it’s going to be a washout weekend? Not at all! But do I think we should all be aware of the fact that there could be some thunderstorms around? Yes.

Ahh…dim sunshine is brightening up my room as I type this! I think that’s a sign that it’s time to be done
I’ll be in the weather center Sunday afternoon/evening…see you then.