Midday Weather Update For Western & Central Mass

Rain continues to fall across the entire area at the midday hour. In addition, we have bands of heavy rain that are pivoting from southeast to northwest through the area leading to periods of heavy to even very heavy rain to fall as they move through.

It is expected that rain will continue throughout this afternoon across the entire area. It appears that this rain will evolve into more lines of heavy rain where it may rain really hard at your location for a while & then stop for a time before it starts up again.

This rain is still expected to continue through tonight before it becomes more in the way of scattered showers during the day on Thursday.

Flooding is going to continue to be a concern during this afternoon and tonight. This flooding will include street flooding, highway flooding, poor drainage flooding and flooding of low-lying areas. Additionally, flooding of streams and small rivers are also going to be a concern this afternoon & tonight, especially in areas that see heavy downpours that continually move over the same locations.

Those of you out and about during this afternoon and tonight should use extreme caution when traveling. Heavy rain will produce low visibility on roads that will likely have ponding of water on them. Hydroplaning is also going to be a risk when traveling today & tonight, so again, use caution when out and about.

Additional updates will be sent out as needed during this afternoon and tonight.

Wednesday Morning Weather Update For Western & Central Mass On Today & Tonight's Heavy Rain & Possible Flooding

Radar imagery at the time of this post indicated that heavy rain is now beginning to make its big push into Western and Central Mass. A majority of the heavy rain last night with this storm has occurred across eastern New York state where at least 6 to 8 inches of rain has accumulated in and around the Albany area leading to a lot of flooding.

Heavy rain will overspread all of Western and Central Mass over the next couple of hours or so & by about late morning, it will be raining heavily across the entire area.

The rain is then expected to continue through all of this afternoon & all of this evening across Western and Central Mass & the rain will be frequently fall at a heavy rate.

FORECAST RAIN TOTALS: Rainfall totals during today and tonight are expected to average between 2 and 3 inches. I still think that we are probably going to see localized rain amounts of up to 4 to possibly 6 inches in some areas in the western Hilltowns of Western Mass, the Berkshires & across the Worcester Hills where the very moist air will be lifted up over the hills and be wrung out in the form of very heavy rain.

Additionally, I have concerns that we will see heavy downpours and thunderstorms continually move over the same areas & this could exacerbate the heavy rain situation.

Flooding is a definite concern throughout today & tonight, especially across the Berkshires, across the western Hilltowns of Western Mass and across the Worcester Hills. This flooding will include street flooding, highway flooding, poor drainage flooding and flooding of low-lying areas. Additionally, flooding of streams and small rivers are also going to be a concern today and tonight across the Berkshires, the western Hilltowns of Western Mass and the Worcester Hills.

Those of you out and about today and tonight, I urge you to use extreme caution when traveling. Heavy rain will produce low visibility on roads that will likely have ponding of water on them. Hydroplaning is also going to be a risk when traveling today & tonight, so again, use caution when out and about.

More updates will be sent out as needed throughout today and tonight.

Tuesday Evening Weather Update Concerning The Heavy Rain & Potential Flood Threat For Western & Central Mass On Wednesday & Wednesday Evening

I am becoming increasingly more concerned that we are going to see flooding from a lot of rain that falls during the day on Wednesday right through Wednesday night. Weather forecast guidance have been trending all day towards a scenario that produces widespread rain totals of 2 to possibly 4 inches with local amounts of upwards of 5 to 6 inches. The areas that I am particularly concerned about in terms of receiving upwards of that 5 to 6 inches of rain are across the Berkshires and across the Worcester Hills where the very moist air is lifted up over the Worcester Hills and the Berkshires and wrung out in the form of very heavy rain.

As of right now, at the time of this post, a line of heavy downpours stretches right across much of the Pioneer Valley of Western Mass. This rain should continue across the Pioneer Valley (especially the middle and upper Pioneer Valley) over the next 2-3 hours before this round of heavy downpours moves out.

It is then expected that a new round of heavy downpours will first overspread Western Mass by very late tonight & then continue through all of Wednesday morning. These heavy downpours will then overspread all of Central Mass during Wednesday morning and then continue into the early afternoon hours of Wednesday.

Additional rounds of heavy downpours are then anticipated to occur across all of Western and Central Mass during the late afternoon hours of Wednesday and during Wednesday evening.

FORECAST RAIN TOTALS: As I already mentioned, I think that we are easily looking at rain totals of 2 to possibly 4 inches across a large part of Western and Central Mass with most of this rain occurring during the day on Wednesday and during Wednesday evening.

Additionally, the combination of a very humid environment, lots of energy and forcing from the strong low pressure system and a east and southeasterly wind flow will all cause a lot of rain to be wrung out in the Worcester Hills and across the Berkshires during Wednesday and Wednesday evening. Because of this, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that upwards of 5 to 6 inches of rain could accumulate in these areas. Additionally, I have concerns that we will see heavy downpours and thunderstorms continually move over the same areas & this could exacerbate the heavy rain situation. Because of this, flooding is now a big concern during the day on Wednesday & during Wednesday night across the Berkshires and across the Worcester Hills. This flooding will include street flooding, highway flooding, poor drainage flooding and flooding of low-lying areas. Additionally, flooding of streams and small rivers are now a growing concern for the Berkshires and the Worcester Hills.

It goes without saying that I will be monitoring the heavy rainfall & potential flood threat extremely closely for Wednesday and Wednesday night & will have frequent updates as needed.