Strong-Severe Thunderstorms Very Likely Late Wed Afternoon & Evening Across Western & Central Mass

Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening could be quite active across all of Western and Central Mass with strong to severe thunderstorms very likely. Before then though, Tonight is expected to be a very warm and very humid night with low temperatures near 75 Degrees expected. Any thunderstorms that are occurring right now should be done by about sunset. Another very hot and humid day is expected on Wednesday with high temperatures of around 95 Degrees expected. The thunderstorm potential is expected to increase dramatically as a piece of atmospheric energy pushes into New England from the Great Lakes region. The amount of unstable air is expected to be very high and there is expected to be high enough shear available leading to the possibility of a couple of rotating thunderstorms. At this point, it appears that strong to severe thunderstorms will push east-southeastward across Western and Central Mass beginning around 3 to 4 pm or so Wednesday afternoon and continuing into the evening hours of Wednesday. These storms are expected to push out of the area by about 8 to 9 pm or so. The main threat from any severe thunderstorms will be strong wind gusts of up to 55 to 70 mph. In addition, given the very humid air, extremely heavy rainfall with the potential for localized flash flooding will also be a threat. Finally, frequent lightning is expected with most of the thunderstorms on Wednesday afternoon and evening. I will be monitoring Wednesday’s severe weather situation very closely and will have updates as needed.