Showers Tonight Into Wed Morning With A Soaking Rain Very Late Wed Night Into Thu Afternoon

For This Afternoon: Very nice weather is expected for this afternoon across the region with sunny to partly sunny skies expected. High temperatures this afternoon will be between 80 and 85 Degrees. Winds this afternoon will be southwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Tonight & Wednesday: Widespread showers are expected to overspread Western and Central Mass during the 8-11 pm time frame and then continue throughout the rest of tonight into early Wednesday morning. In addition, a rumble or two of thunder is a possibility between about 3 am and 8 am Wednesday morning. The shower activity tonight into early Wednesday morning is expected to produce between one quarter (0.25”) and one half (0.50”) of an inch of rainfall. Not enough to put a dent in our drought, but it could be just enough to wash some of the pollen away. All shower activity will come to an end by about 8 to 9 am Wednesday morning with the rest of Wednesday expected to be dry. Additionally, skies are expected to become partly sunny during Wednesday afternoon. Low temperatures tonight will be between 60 and 65 Degrees. High temperatures Wednesday will be between 75 and 80 Degrees. Winds tonight will be south at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Winds on Wednesday will be south to southwest at 10 to 20 mph. Wednesday Night & Thursday: A robust low pressure system is expected to move across Southern New England during Thursday morning before pulling away during Thursday afternoon. This storm system is likely to bring a soaking rain to the entire area very late Wednesday night and much of the day on Thursday. Rain is expected to overspread the entire area between about 4 am and 6 am Thursday morning and then continue throughout the morning Thursday. The rain is likely to be heavy at times throughout Thursday morning. This rain may persist through midday before coming to an end during the early afternoon hours of Thursday. Rainfall amounts very late Wednesday night through midday Thursday looks to average between 1 and 2 inches. This additional rainfall will not only thoroughly clean the atmosphere of pollen, but will probably help our drought and very dry conditions. Low temperatures Wednesday night will be near 60 Degrees. High temperatures Thursday will be near 70 Degrees. Winds on Wednesday night will be southwest at 5 to 10 mph. Winds on Thursday will be southeast at 5 to 10 mph during the morning and west at 5 to 10 mph during the afternoon. Friday: A sunny to partly sunny day is expected on Friday with high temperatures near 80 Degrees. This Weekend: There is quite a bit of uncertainty with the weekend weather and this uncertainty hinges on the exact track and strength of an area of low pressure that is expected to move across New England on Saturday. Some of the weather forecast guidance, such as the GFS model, is forecasting this storm system will move directly across New England bringing our area rain Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. Other weather forecast guidance, like the European model, is forecasting a storm system that passes well southeast of the area. This would bring very light rain to the area for a few hours late Saturday night. Given the stormy look in the overall weather pattern for the next several days, I’m leaning towards a pessimistic forecast for the day on Saturday with perhaps improving weather on Sunday. This means that low pressure will probably move directly across New England on Saturday bringing Western and Central Mass rain all day on Saturday that persists through Saturday night. Rainfall amounts of between one half of an inch (0.50”) and one inch (1.00”) looks quite possible during the day on Saturday. Sunshine looks to return for Sunday as a northwest wind flow transports some much drier air into the area. High temperatures Saturday will be between 65 and 70 Degrees. Low temperatures Saturday night will be near 55 Degrees. High temperatures Sunday will be near 75 Degrees.