Lee Will Bring Windy Conditions To Western & Central Mass Tonight Through Saturday

For Tonight: Hurricane Lee is currently located well to the southeast of the Cape and is expected to head northward tonight reaching a point about 150-175 miles due east of the Cape by Saturday morning. The wind field surrounding Lee is expected to continue to widen tonight. Because of this, northerly winds will gradually increase tonight from 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph this evening to 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 35 mph after midnight tonight across the entire area. Other than that, cloudy skies are expected tonight with low temperatures between 55 and 60 Degrees. Saturday: A pretty windy day is expected on Saturday with the windiest conditions expected during the afternoon. Lee is expected to make landfall in Atlantic Canada between southern New Brunswick and southwestern Nova Scotia by late in the day. Even though Lee will be weakening, a tight pressure gradient between the storm and an area of high pressure to the west will create some pretty gusty winds throughout the day on Saturday. For Western Mass, I expect North to Northwest winds to blow at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph in the morning and at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph during the afternoon. For Central Mass, North to Northwest winds are expected to be 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35-40 mph during the morning and 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 45 mph or so during the afternoon. The windy conditions across the area could lead to some downed trees and power lines. The reason for this is due to the fact that the trees are still fully leafed and the ground is extremely saturated. This means that trees will be pretty susceptible to being blown down leading to the potential for isolated power outages across Western Mass and scattered power outages across Central Mass. In addition, no rain at all is expected during Saturday across the entire area with just cloudy skies expected during the day. In fact, some breaks in the clouds are likely across Western Mass during the afternoon as Lee moves northward towards Atlantic Canada. High temperatures Saturday will be near 70 Degrees. All-in-all though, this storm is going to be much more like a distant offshore Fall Nor’easter than a tropical system. Because of this, it’ll probably be a nothing burger across Western Mass and nothing more than a nuisance storm across Central Mass due to very gusty winds and the possibility of downed trees and some power outages. Sunday Through Next Week: Besides a follow up frontal system moving through on Monday bringing with it shower activity, much of next week looks quite decent with plenty of sunshine and low humidity. Sunday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures between 75 and 80 Degrees. On and off shower activity is expected for Monday with high temperatures between 65 and 70 Degrees. Tuesday looks sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures between 70 and 75 Degrees. Wednesday looks sunny with high temperatures near 70 Degrees. Thursday and next Friday both look sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures both days between 70 and 75 Degrees.

Windy Conditions Will Be The Main Impact From Lee On Saturday Across Western & Central Mass

For The Rest Of Today: Plenty of sunshine can be expected throughout the rest of the day today. High temperatures will be near 75 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight & Friday: Dry weather with no weather problems are expected throughout tonight and Friday. Some of the high and mid-level clouds out ahead of Hurricane Lee will overspread the region late tonight and during Friday. Skies tonight will start out clear to partly cloudy, but will become cloudy well after midnight. Low temperatures will be between 50 and 55 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Friday looks to be a generally cloudy day, but there will be peeks of sunshine from time to time. High temperatures will be between 65 and 70 Degrees. Winds will be North at 10 to 20 mph. Latest On Hurricane Lee: It looks pretty likely that the center of Lee will pass about 150-175 miles to the east of the Cape during Saturday morning. Lee is then expected to make landfall somewhere between far Downeast Maine near about Eastport and Calais and southern Nova Scotia near about Yarmouth by Saturday evening. As Lee transitions from a tropical system into an extra-tropical storm, its already very large wind field is likely to expand out even more. Because of this, it appears likely that a period of very gusty northerly winds can be expected across the region during Saturday. Current indications are that the these gusty winds will reach a peak during the afternoon on Saturday. As for rainfall, with the track of Lee staying fairly far offshore of the Southern New England coast, it appears that little, if any rain is expected across Central Mass with no rain at all expected across Western Mass. Detailed Forecast: Friday Night: Cloudy and becoming increasingly more windy by late at night. In addition, some periods of rain are possible near sunrise across Central Mass with dry weather expected across Western Mass. North to Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph expected by late at night. Low temperatures will be near 55 Degrees. Saturday: Cloudy and windy during the morning with some periods of rain possible early in the morning across Central Mass. Any rain (and there may actually be no rain at all) will move away by mid-morning. Winds will be North to Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. Across Western Mass, it looks dry during Saturday morning, but cloudy and windy. Winds will be North to Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. As for Saturday afternoon – Across Western Mass, there looks to be a mixture of clouds and sun and it’ll be windy. Winds will be North to Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. Across Central Mass, Saturday afternoon looks generally cloudy with some peeks of sunshine possible from time to time. It will also be quite windy during the afternoon with North to Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40-50 mph. High temperatures Saturday across the entire area will be between 65 and 70 Degrees. The windy conditions across Western Mass and especially the quite windy conditions across Central Mass could lead to some downed trees and power lines. The reason for this is due to the fact that the trees are still fully leafed and the ground is super saturated. This means that trees will be pretty susceptible to being blown down leading to the potential for isolated power outages across Western Mass and scattered power outages across Central Mass. All-in-all though, this storm is going to be much more like a distant offshore Fall Nor’easter than a tropical system. Because of this, it’ll probably be a nothing burger across Western Mass and nothing more than a nuisance storm across Central Mass due to very gusty winds and the possibility of downed trees and some power outages. Sunday Through Wednesday: Besides not directly impacting our area and giving us a bad time, one other benefit from Lee is that its going to usher in some nice weather with sunshine and low humidity for several days from late this weekend into next week. Sunday and Monday both look sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures both days near 75 Degrees. Tuesday looks sunny with high temperatures near 75 Degrees. Wednesday looks sunny with high temperatures between 70 and 75 Degrees.

Lee Looks To Bring Some Very Gusty Winds With Perhaps Some Rain On Saturday

Latest On Hurricane Lee: The forecast track of Lee for later this week and this weekend is becoming a little more certain. Because of this, we are starting to get a little more certainty as to what impacts the storm will have on Western and Central Mass. It appears that Lee will track on a northerly course through Thursday, but by Friday it appears that a bend towards the northwest should occur. This should bring the center of Lee about 150 miles to the east of the Cape during Saturday morning and then make landfall somewhere between about far eastern Maine near about Calais and Eastport and southwestern Nova Scotia near about Yarmouth on Saturday evening. I think that the main impact on our area from Lee will be the possibility of some very gusty winds thanks to a tight pressure gradient between the center of Lee and a high pressure ridge located to the west. I still think that Lee will stay far enough offshore so that any significant rainfall should stay just to our east. Still though, some rain looks possible during late Friday night and Saturday morning, especially across Central Mass. Detailed Forecast For Late Friday Night Through Saturday: Cloudy and windy everywhere across Western and Central Mass. Some periods of light to moderate rain is possible across mainly Central Mass late Friday night and during Saturday morning which looks to amount to less than one quarter of an inch of rainfall (0.25”). Across Western Mass, things may actually stay dry all day long Saturday. As for winds, northerly winds look to gust up to 25 to 35 mph at times across Western Mass and up to 30 to 50 mph at times across Central Mass throughout the day on Saturday. These very gusty winds could definitely be a big issue due to the combination of trees still being fully leafed and the ground being super saturated. This means that trees will be pretty susceptible to being blown down leading to the potential for isolated power outages across Western Mass and scattered power outages across Central Mass. Bottom line, this storm is going to be much more like an offshore fall Nor’easter than a tropical system. As I mentioned previously, strong gusty winds could be the big story across the area, which given that trees are still fully leafed and the ground is very wet, power outages seem likely.