Thunderstorms, Some Strong, Are Expected Wednesday Afternoon & Wednesday Evening

For This Afternoon: Generally cloudy skies with some peeks of sunshine are expected across Central Mass with a mixture of sunshine and clouds expected across Western Mass this afternoon. It’s possible that a very isolated shower could occur, but any showers will be extremely hit or miss with most areas staying dry. Temperatures will be between 75 and 80 Degrees with rather humid conditions as compared to what we’re used to lately. Winds will be West at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Dry but cloudy weather is expected tonight with low temperatures near 55 Degrees. Winds will be West at 5 to 10 mph. Wednesday & Wednesday Night: An area of low pressure is expected to track across the region during Wednesday and Wednesday night pulling a warm front and then a cold front across the region. This will lead to showers and thunderstorms to occur during Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening. The question is how many of the thunderstorms will be on the strong side. On one hand, the atmosphere is likely to be warm, humid and unstable throughout Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening and this will provide fuel for thunderstorm development. In addition, with the low pressure system tracking to the west and north of the area and an upper level jet streak moving through, it’ll lead to quite a bit of forcing for thunderstorms to be uninhibited from forming and maturing. One factor that will be lacking, which otherwise would lead to a severe weather situation, is a cold pool aloft, which doesn’t look like it’ll move through until later Wednesday night. Also, a punch of mid-level dry air will hold off from pushing through until late Wednesday night. Both factors being delayed is a good thing, because otherwise I’d be increasingly more concerned about quite a bit in the way of severe weather to occur Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening. That said, the atmosphere should still be favorable enough to produce fairly widespread thunderstorms with a few of the storms being on the strong side. The main threats from the stronger storms will be very gusty winds, torrential downpours and frequent lightning. So, for Wednesday, I expect skies to start out with a mixture of sunshine and clouds during the morning. As we get into the afternoon, widespread showers and thunderstorms will develop by about 2-3 pm or so. The widespread shower and thunderstorm activity is expected to continue through not only the mid and late afternoon hours, but also right through Wednesday evening. Showers and thunderstorms will come to an end just before midnight Wednesday night. Again, a few of the thunderstorms may be on the strong side with very gusty winds, torrential downpours and frequent lightning the main threats. High temperatures Wednesday will be between 75 and 80 Degrees. Low temperatures Wednesday night will be near 55 Degrees. Winds on Wednesday will be South at 10 to 20 mph. Winds on Wednesday night will be Southwest at 10 to 20 mph. Thursday Through This Weekend: We will be in-between weather systems on Thursday. This means skies on Thursday will be partly sunny with high temperatures between 75 and 80 Degrees. Another cold front will push through the region during Friday afternoon bringing with it widespread showers and scattered thunderstorms during Friday afternoon. High temperatures Friday will be between 70 and 75 Degrees. The weekend weather looks somewhat unsettled, but it won’t be a washout. A frontal boundary will be stalled to our south throughout the weekend and it may be close enough to bring the region some scattered showers at times. Saturday looks like it may have the higher chance for showers with partly sunny skies along with some scattered showers. High temperatures will be between 70 and 75 Degrees. Sunday is expected to be partly sunny with some very isolated showers possible. High temperatures will be near 75 Degrees.