For The Rest Of This Afternoon Into This Evening: Radar imagery as of early this afternoon indicates that there are thunderstorms occurring over the upper Pioneer Valley as well as a line of thunderstorms now pushing southeastward across eastern New York State.
It is expected that we will see thunderstorms, some of which will be strong to severe, first move across Western Mass by about 3-4 pm this afternoon and then across Central Mass by about 4-5 pm. These storms will be capable of producing wind gusts of up to 50-60 mph, torrential downpours with a threat for localized flash flooding and very frequent lightning. While the threat is very low, there is an outside risk of an isolated tornado given that the low-level wind shear will be pretty robust along a stalled frontal boundary now draped across Central Mass.
These thunderstorms look to come to an end across Western Mass by about 6 pm and across Central Mass by about 7 pm.
Temperatures the rest of this afternoon will be in the 75 to 80 Degree range with some very humid conditions.
Sunday: Another afternoon and evening of thunderstorms, some of which may be strong to severe, can be expected on Sunday.
A hot and humid day is expected on Sunday before the thunderstorm activity with high temperatures of 85 to 90 Degrees. These hot and humid conditions will lead to an unstable air mass across the entire area along with a decent amount of low-level wind shear. This all means that the atmosphere looks to be primed to support strong to severe thunderstorms during Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.
Current weather forecast guidance seems to suggest that strong to severe thunderstorms will make their way across Western and Central Mass between about 4-5 pm and 8-9 pm Sunday.
These storms will have the capability of producing wind gusts of up to 50-70 mph, quarter size hail, torrential downpours and frequent lightning.
Additionally, the tornado threat late Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening is going to need to be watched extremely closely. The severe weather ingredients are definitely there for some of these storms to produce tornadoes, especially across northern Worcester County and the upper Pioneer Valley. That said, it seems that the much higher threat for tornadoes may be found across central and southern Vermont and central and southwestern New Hampshire.
It goes without saying that the severe weather threat for both this afternoon and Sunday afternoon/evening will be watched extremely closely.
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