Hot & Humid Weather Expected The Rest Of This Week Across Western & Central Mass

For This Afternoon: An extended stretch of hot and humid weather is expected across Western and Central the rest of this week right through this weekend. Skies this afternoon will be sunny to partly sunny and it will be hot and humid. Temperatures will be near 90 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph. Tonight: A warm and humid night is expected under clear to partly cloudy skies. Low temperatures will be near 70 Degrees. Winds will be West at 7 to 14 mph. Wednesday: A hot and oppressively humid day with dangerous heat index readings expected on Wednesday. Lots of sunshine is expected throughout the day Wednesday with high temperatures between 90 and 95 Degrees. Heat index readings are expected to be around 100 Degrees during the afternoon as dew point temperatures hover between 65 and 70 Degrees. Winds will be West at 5 to 10 mph. Strong To Severe Thunderstorms Are Probable Late Thursday Afternoon & Thursday Evening: You will really need to keep an eye on the weather during the late afternoon and evening hours of Thursday as it looks probable that there will be some strong to severe thunderstorms. A hot and oppressively humid day is expected on Thursday under generally partly sunny skies. High temperatures will be between 90 and 95 Degrees. Heat index readings will be around 100 Degrees during the afternoon thanks to dew point temperatures of 70 to 75 Degrees. Now, for the latest on what I’m thinking in terms of possible strong to severe thunderstorms late in the afternoon and during the evening – A frontal boundary is expected to push into a hot, humid and fairly unstable air mass and will likely set off the development of strong to severe thunderstorms first across central and eastern New York State during the early afternoon hours. It’s anticipated that these possibly strong to severe thunderstorms will push across Western and Central Mass between about 4 pm and about 10 pm Thursday. The favorable ingredients for severe weather include an already mentioned unstable air mass, strong mid-level westerly winds, which could combine with southerly surface winds to produce some low-level wind shear and also forcing from the eastward moving frontal system. Now, there are factors that may actually negate the development of strong to severe thunderstorms. These include dry air at the mid-levels of the atmosphere, which may cap things off. Depending on how strong the upward lift is will dictate whether thunderstorms will break through that cap and explode or whether they will hit the cap and just not develop. Also, there could be a not very quick rate of decrease in temperatures as you go up into the atmosphere. Should this occur, it could lead to cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds to not be forced upward in height very quickly, thus limiting how severe they become. So, while it’s not a slam dunk that we are definitely going to see severe thunderstorms late Thursday, there is a reasonable possibility that some of the thunderstorms will be strong to severe as they move through between 4 pm and 10 pm Thursday. The main threats with any strong to severe thunderstorms will be wind gusts of up to 50 to 70 mph, hail and a tornado threat. Frequent lightning and heavy downpours are also likely with any strong to severe thunderstorms. The severe weather threat is something that I’m going to be keeping a VERY close eye on and will have more updates as needed. Friday Through Sunday: Hot and humid weather is expected from Friday right through this weekend. Friday looks sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures between 90 and 95 Degrees. Saturday looks sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures around 90 Degrees. Sunday looks partly sunny and there could be some afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms around as a frontal system pushes through the area. High temperatures will be between 85 and 90 Degrees.