It’s Going To Turn REALLY Hot & Humid From Wednesday Through Friday Across Western & Central Mass

For Tonight: A few scattered showers and perhaps a thunderstorm or two will persist across the entire area into early this evening. Any leftover showers or isolated thunderstorms will dissipate by about 9 pm.

The overnight hours of tonight will feature partly cloudy skies. Low temperatures will be near 60 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at around 10 mph.

Monday: Partly sunny skies are expected throughout the day on Monday. High temperatures will be near 85 Degrees. Dew point temperatures will be in the upper 50s to low 60s. Winds will be North at around 10 mph.

Monday Night: Clear to partly cloudy skies are expected throughout Monday night. Low temperatures will be around 60 Degrees. Winds will be West at around 10 mph.

Tuesday: Sunny to partly sunny skies are expected during Tuesday & it’ll be a little more humid as compared to Monday. High temperatures will be between 84 and 89 Degrees. Dew point temperatures will be between 60 and 65 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 10 to 20 mph.

Wednesday Through Friday: We are going to start July with a large high pressure system building over the Midwestern United States that looks to extend into the Mid-Atlantic states. Here in Western and Central Mass, we are expected to be on the northern side of this high pressure ridge. This will place our area in a favorable area for high amounts of heat and humidity to make it into Western and Central Mass during the second half of this coming week.

It will also place the northeastern United States in a favorable pattern for almost daily large thunderstorm complexes to push southeastward from the upper Great Lakes and Ontario & Quebec provinces. The big unknown is whether our particular area here in Western and Central Mass will be affected by any of these large thunderstorm complexes or not. Given that the atmosphere is expected to be very unstable to extremely unstable, any thunderstorm complexes later this coming week will need to be watched closely as if any do affect our area, they would easily produce severe weather. Something to watch closely, for sure.

Wednesday looks partly sunny and it will be hot and humid. High temperatures will be between 90 and 95 Degrees. Dew point temperatures will be between 65 and 70 Degrees. Heat index readings Wednesday will be between 95 and 100 Degrees.

Thursday will be the worst day in terms of heat and humidity. It will be partly sunny, very hot and humid. There’s the possibility for an isolated late afternoon or evening thunderstorm. High temperatures will be between 94 and 99 Degrees. It should be noted that parts of the Connecticut River Valley will be between 100 and 105 Degrees on Thursday afternoon. Dew point temperatures Thursday will be between 70 and 75 Degrees. Heat index readings will be between 105 and 110 Degrees.

Friday looks sunny to partly sunny & it’ll be very hot and humid. Additionally, there’s the possibility for some scattered late afternoon and evening thunderstorms, a few of which could be strong to severe. High temperatures will be between 92 and 98 Degrees. Parts of the Connecticut River Valley will likely reach between 100 and 105 Degrees Friday afternoon. Dew point temperatures Friday will be between 70 and 75 Degrees. Heat index readings will be between 105 and 110 Degrees.

Fourth Of July Weekend Weather Outlook: It’s likely to stay hot and humid across the entire area throughout much of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. We are also going to have to keep a close eye on any afternoon thunderstorms that move through as they could be strong to severe.

The Fourth of July looks sunny to partly sunny & there may be some late afternoon and evening scattered thunderstorms. Some of these thunderstorms might be on the strong to severe side. It will be hot and humid with high temperatures of 90 to 95 Degrees and dew point temperatures between 65 and 70 Degrees. Heat index readings will be near 100 Degrees.

Next Sunday looks partly sunny & it’ll be hot and humid. In addition, there may be some afternoon and evening scattered thunderstorms. Some of these thunderstorms could be on the strong to severe side. High temperatures will be near 90 Degrees. Dew point temperatures will be near 70 Degrees. Heat index readings will be between 95 and 100 Degrees.

A Few Hit Or Miss Showers & Thunderstorms Are Possible Later This Afternoon & This Evening Across Western & Central Mass

Even though the widespread shower activity associated with a frontal boundary will stay south of our area across southern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island, it appears that there will be a few showers and thunderstorms possible mainly late this afternoon and this evening across all of Western and Central Mass.

Radar imagery at the time of this post showed some isolated showers now developing over the eastern slopes of the Berkshires. It is anticipated that the coverage of this shower and thunderstorm activity will increase a bit over the next few hours. Most of the scattered showers and thunderstorms that do occur look to happen between about 4 pm and 9 pm or so.

These showers and thunderstorms later this afternoon and this evening will be hit or miss & because of this, not everyone will see a shower or thunderstorm. Any thunderstorms that do occur will be capable of producing some locally heavy downpours and perhaps some lightning. Strong or severe thunderstorms ARE NOT expected.

6:15 pm Friday Evening Thunderstorm Update For Areas Along The Mass Pike & Route 20

Radar imagery at the time of this post showed a west to east oriented line of torrential downpours and thunderstorms stretching from the Springfield Metro eastward along the Mass Pike and Route 20 through Palmer, Monson, Brimfield and Sturbridge. All of this activity is moving in a easterly direction at a forward speed of 20 mph.

Those of traveling on either the Mass Pike or Route 20 from Springfield and points east through Brimfield, Sturbridge, Charlton and Auburn, be aware that heavy downpours and some occasional thunder will be a threat for the next hour or so. Areas along I-84 and I-395 will also be affected as well.

These heavy downpours will lead to some very poor travel conditions for those traveling. Given that some of these heavy downpours will be reoccurring over the same areas, some street and highway flooding is likely.