COMMENTARY
Once up a blue moon, we have a white Halloween. Well… Now that Halloween and the month of October have come and gone, it’s onto November, the penultimate month of 2020, and despite the oddities and trials the year has given us, there is still weather every day, still people that need to travel, so it’s time to look ahead at the first half of this month, starting with the first 5 days in this section, as well as a quick teaser that I have a “Retrovember” treat for the blog starting as soon as I finish the update, i.e., a switch back to the original format of the blog that was used from its birth to earlier this year. WHW turns 10 years old at the end of the year, so I thought it would be fun to do something like that.
DAYS 1-5 (NOVEMBER 1-5)
Discussion…
A warmer southerly air flow is now in place across the region. But as of 8:00 a.m. there’s quite a temperature contrast across the region, ranging from near freezing in some interior sections of MA and southern NH to the middle 50s on Cape Cod. Temperatures will become more uniform as the day goes on and the southerly wind exerts its influence on those colder areas. A weak disturbance will bring some rain showers to Cape Cod and a few others may pop up over southeastern MA this morning. An approaching cold front will interact with the moisture ahead of it and produce a widespread area of rain showers which will move in from southwest to northeast toward day’s end. With sunset now just after 4:30 p.m., we will get through most of our short daylight rain-free, but it becomes quite wet this evening as these showers move through, with enough instability that even a rumble of thunder may occur in some areas. The cold front pushes through overnight and offshore by Monday morning, and Monday will be a “cold-advection” day in which the temperature really doesn’t go anywhere after its initial fall behind the cold front, as the sun (mixed with clouds) tries to warm the air, cold air will be coming in. But what you will really notice Monday is the wind. Low pressure moving away will become quite strong while a significant high pressure area moves into the Great Lakes region and the pressure difference between these will be rather significant, creating a northwest air flow that will produce wind gusts in excess of 40 MPH. This will likely result in some tree damage and isolated to scattered power outages. The wind will continue into Monday night as a disturbance moves through, and this may produce some snow showers and even a snow squall in a few locations, into the first few hours of Tuesday before it departs, and we end up with a dry, breezy, but cold Election Day. High pressure moves overhead Tuesday night for a clear, calm, but cold night, and then the high slides offshore Wednesday and we see a significant temperature recovery, which will continue into Thursday as well when many areas reach or exceed 60!
Details…
TODAY: Variably cloudy this morning with a passing shower Cape Cod and possible shower remainder of southeastern MA. Mostly cloudy this afternoon with numerous rain showers arriving from southwest to northeast late-day. Highs 51-58. Wind S 5-15 MPH.
THIS EVENING (THROUGH MIDNIGHT): Cloudy with numerous rain showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms. Temperatures in the 50s. Wind S 5-15 MPH, higher gusts.
OVERNIGHT: Breaking clouds. Temperatures falling to near 40. Wind W 5-15 MPH, higher gusts.
MONDAY: Variably cloudy. Passing rain or snow showers. Temperatures steady around 40. Wind W 10-20 MPH, higher gusts.
MONDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. Passing snow showers. Slight chance of a snow squall. Minor snow accumulation possible. Lows 27-34. Wind NW 10-20 MPH, higher gusts.
TUESDAY: Variably cloudy with a risk of a passing snow shower early morning, then mostly sunny. Highs 37-44. Wind NW 10-20 MPH, higher gusts, diminishing during the afternoon.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Clear. Lows 18-25 except 25-32 immediate coast and urban areas. Wind calm.
WEDNESDAY: Sunny. Highs 50-57. Wind W to SW 5-15 MPH.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Clear. Lows 40-47. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 58-65. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (NOVEMBER 6-10)
Dry weather will be dominant through November 9 at least, starting out with above normal temperatures November 6-7 as high pressure to the south is dominant, then a frontal boundary sneaks through and high pressure to the north dominates with cooler weather November 7-8. Uncertainty for the end of the period but current indications are for a warm-up but also the potential for some wet weather arriving November 10 ahead of a cold front from the west. At day 10 though, low confidence on this.
DAYS 11-15 (NOVEMBER 11-15)
Cooler / colder air may move back in and we’ll have to watch moisture to the south during the middle of this period for potential impact here.