A Strong Cold Front Will Bring Locally Heavy Rainfall & Gusty Winds On Thursday Night

Tonight & Wednesday: An area of high pressure system will continue to control the weather tonight and Wednesday. Clear skies are expected for tonight with low temperatures near 45 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 5 to 10 mph. Another sunny day is expected on Wednesday with high temperatures near 70 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 10 to 20 mph. Thursday & Friday: A strong cold front is expected to approach our area from the west during Thursday before it moves across Southern New England during Thursday night. That strong cold front will move to our east during Friday. Thursday is expected to be a cloudy day with increasing shower activity expected during the afternoon. The main part of this system in terms of heavy rain and gusty winds will hold off until Thursday night. High temperatures Thursday will be between 65 and 70 Degrees. Winds will be South at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Turning to Thursday night – the main weather concerns with the frontal passage will be locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds. Heavy Rainfall Potential For Thursday Night: Scattered shower activity is expected during Thursday evening before a band of heavy rain with embedded thunderstorm activity moves from west to east across the region between about midnight Thursday night and about sunrise Friday morning. It still looks like rainfall totals of 1 to 2 inches are likely with locally higher amounts possible. This heavy rainfall is likely to lead to street and highway flooding, especially in areas where fallen leaves are clogging storm drains. Additionally, the combination of wet roads and wet fallen leaves on roads is likely to lead to slippery road conditions throughout Thursday night into the first part of Friday morning. Gusty Winds Expected On Thursday Night: A tight pressure gradient between the incoming frontal boundary and a high pressure ridge to the east will lead to some gusty southerly winds throughout Thursday night. The winds at just 2000 feet above ground level are likely to be between 45 and 65 mph throughout Thursday night. The big question is whether any of the heavy rain or thunderstorm activity will be able to bring these strong winds down to the surface or not. At this point, I think that we’re probably looking at South winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 to 45 mph at times throughout Thursday night. Again, an isolated wind gust of 50 to 60 mph is not out of the question with any heavy shower or thunderstorm activity after midnight Thursday night. These gusty southerly winds will still probably be able to strip at least some of the leaves from the trees during Thursday night. As I already mentioned, the combination of heavy rain and fallen leaves on roads will lead to slippery road conditions on Thursday night into Friday morning. Any shower activity will come to an end by later Friday morning with skies gradually becoming partly sunny during Friday morning. Low temperatures Thursday night will be between 60 and 65 Degrees. High temperatures Friday will be between 65 and 70 Degrees.