Showers & Thunderstorms Expected The Rest Of This Afternoon Into This Evening; Heavy Rain With 1.50 Inches To 2.50 Inches Of Rain Friday Afternoon & Friday Night

Radar imagery as of the time of this post showed some showers now developing over Western Mass.

It is expected that the coverage of these showers, along with some thunderstorms will increase as the rest of the afternoon progresses.

Most of the shower and thunderstorm activity will initially occur across Western Mass between now and about 6-7 pm.

These showers and thunderstorms are then expected to move into Central Mass during the 6-7 pm time period and then continue through much of this evening before ending around midnight tonight.

While severe thunderstorms are not expected, some of the thunderstorms may be on the strong side and be capable of producing wind gusts of up to 45 mph, pea size hail and torrential downpours that'll cause ponding of water on streets, highways and underpasses.

I will be monitoring the thunderstorm activity closely and will post updates on the stronger storms that do develop.

In addition to this, it still looks like we have 1.50 to 2.50 inches of rainfall coming for the entire area from Friday afternoon through Friday night.

The cause of this rain will be an area of low pressure that is expected to form near Long Island Friday afternoon and track across Southern New England during Friday night.

A few showers Friday morning will turn into rain, that will be heavy at times, first across Western Mass by midday with this rain overspreading Central Mass by mid-afternoon.

The rain, which will be heavy at times, is then expected to continue through late Friday afternoon and all of Friday night. This rain will then come to an end across the region between 7 and 10 am Saturday morning.

Total rainfall amounts from Friday afternoon through Friday night are expected to average between one and one half inches (1.50") and two and one half inches (2.50") across the entire area.

Given the wet ground conditions that we have right now, this additional heavy rainfall will likely lead to significant ponding of water on streets, highways and underpasses, urban flood issues and likely minor flooding on the rivers (both the big rivers and the smaller rivers) and streams across the region. The flood potential is something that I will be keeping close tabs on and I will have updates for you as needed.