Thunderstorms With Heavy Rain & Flash Flooding Expected From Mid & Late Afternoon Into This Evening

It looks like it’s going to be quite the wet afternoon and evening for quite a few of us across Western and Central Mass. A frontal boundary currently is draped across the area that stretches from I-84 east-northeastward to northeastern Mass. Thunderstorms are expected to develop along and near this frontal boundary by about 2-3 pm with other storms developing over the Berkshires at about the same time this afternoon. These thunderstorms are then likely to increase in coverage across the entire area by late afternoon and continue into early this evening before coming to an end by about the 10-11 pm time frame this evening. It is likely that torrential downpours will accompany these storms and the fact that they will be slow-moving means that localized flash flooding of streets, highways and areas of poor drainage are likely across the entire region. The thunderstorms, torrential downpours and the localized flash flooding is also likely to significantly affect this afternoon and evening’s commute. Please be aware of this.

I will be watching this closely and will have updates as needed. A full update on Hurricane Lee and its possible impacts on our weather this coming weekend will be sent out by this evening after I review the latest afternoon data and weather forecast guidance.