Thursday May 18 2023 Forecast (7:24AM)

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DAYS 1-5 (MAY 18-22)

A cold start this morning will turn around quickly today with a decent temperature rise off morning lows which landed right in the expected range (upper 20s in coldest spots like Taunton, 30s in most areas, and lower 40s in urban centers like downtown Boston). Some locations (Taunton for example again), can rise well over 30 degrees today to their high temp, while others (Boston) will have a smaller “diurnal” – the term that refers to the difference between the morning low and afternoon high temps. Typical springtime in New England though as this is the season we see this most. Folks in southern portions of the WHW forecast area (south central to southeastern MA, eastern CT, and RI) awake to a hazier sky due to a plume of wildfire smoke mixed with some high clouds carried in by the upper winds, while areas to the north and northeast have a clearer sky and brighter sun to start, but more of that smoke may make its way in from the northwest as the day goes on, so we may end up with more of a hazy look to the sky for most areas by day’s end. Other than some smoke aloft it will be a clear night tonight, but with an increasing dew point on a more southerly air flow, despite fairly light wind we won’t be able to chill down like last night, and this will lead to a warmer day tomorrow still with a fair amount of sun despite some additional mid to high altitude smoke and additional cloud cover. This leads us to a more complex outlook for the weekend. Saturday, we’ll be watching the approach of two systems. The first is a trough and frontal system from the west, the second a weak low pressure area moving north northeastward from the Middle Atlantic coastal area. Current thoughts are that the moisture from the second system will split, with part 1 peeling off to the east to possibly clip Cape Cod with some wet weather during the day Saturday, favoring the afternoon, and part 2 getting caught up in the approaching frontal system from the west, which will bring the most widespread showers to the region as a whole Saturday evening and night, then exiting off the coast during early Sunday morning. This will set up a drier finish to the weekend, but we may still have at least some cloudiness around Sunday as colder air moves back in aloft while the surface is slower to cool down and dry out. By Monday, Canadian high pressure will be back with fair, cooler weather.

TODAY: Sunshine, but filtered by high clouds and some high altitude smoke in southern areas early and then again from west to east by later in the day. Highs 61-68. Wind variable up to 10 MPH, then W 5-15 MPH.

TONIGHT: Mostly clear except some smoke aloft. Lows 47-54. Wind SW up to 10 MPH.

FRIDAY: Sun/cloud/smoke aloft mix. Highs 70-77. Wind S 5-15 MPH.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. Lows 52-59. Wind S 5-15 MPH.

SATURDAY: Variably cloudy. Showers likely Cape Cod region midday into afternoon. Showers arrive west to east late-day / evening. Highs 67-74, coolest South Coast. Wind S 5-15 MPH.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Showers likely. Areas of fog. Lows 50-57. Wind variable to SW up to 10 MPH, shifting to W.

SUNDAY: Lots of clouds at times, some sun at others. Chance of a shower early in the day favoring eastern coastal areas and especially Cape Cod. Highs 60-67. Wind W 5-15 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Lows 42-49. Wind NW 5-15 MPH.

MONDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 60-67. Wind NW 5-15 MPH.

DAYS 6-10 (MAY 23-27)

Watch for a potential sneaky system with a wet weather threat in the May 24-26 window, otherwise dry weather should dominate the beginning and end of the period, and much of the period of the unsettled weather fails to materialize.

DAYS 11-15 (MAY 28 – JUNE 1)

The middle and end of the Memorial Day Weekend should be dry and warmer followed by the potential for some showery weather to close out May, and a return to fair weather to start the month of June.

35 thoughts on “Thursday May 18 2023 Forecast (7:24AM)”

  2. Good morning and thank you TK.

    bottomed out at 39 here this morning.

    interesting g that ocean temp dropped overnight to 52.16.

  6. Thanks, TK and Good Morning!

    30.6 was the low in our backyard!
    29 at the East Taunton airport at 0500.

    Had to do a little scraping on the windshield on 18 May!

  9. 4,500 bears live in Massachusetts, according to the latest census. It’s not clear if all bears are accounted for. Some are known to not fill out the proper forms. Others are multi-state residents. In any case, they’re increasingly being spotted in the Eastern part of the state, in towns such as Franklin, Mansfield, and Sharon. Maybe it’s the local school systems that are attracting families of bears. It’s all speculation at this point. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/05/17/contrary-to-popular-belief-bears-are-allowed-to-be-in-the-woods-more-black-bears-spotted-in-franklin-mansfield/?p1=hp_featurebox

    1. I pull the bird feeders in at least once a year when one was in the area. I’d love to look out and see one.

    2. I go fishing out towards Franklin and Sharon.
      I am somewhat concerned about running into a bear or
      Coyote for that matter. So far, so good. I have stay away from
      going deep woods, being content to fish near roads to be safer.
      Perhaps less fish, but better safe than sorry.

      also, at my age, probably not a good idea to be deep in the woods away from everything. 🙂

    1. Fascinating photo,,Joshua. I do remember it Mac’s sister has been living in Spokane for a couple of years when we visited her in the mid 1990s. We drove west into central WA. There was still ash lining the sides of the highway. No idea why but Somewhere we have a glass of ash.

      1. That eruption changed the entire weather pattern across the entire continental U.S. if I recall correctly. Thanks Joshua.

    2. I remember viewing it from a plane shortly after takeoff from SeaTac well after it had settled post-eruption. It was a startling sight.

        1. I was so grateful to have a window seat on the appropriate side of the plane — I could peer right down into what remained of the top of it, and it was unmistakable!

          1. Wow.

            Just seeing it from the ground is impressive. I cannot imagine seeing it from above

      2. My 1st trip to Portland, Oregon I was amazed when you go downtown right on the Columbia River, and the view to the north is basically just Mt. St. Helens.

  13. It has only recovered to 55 here. pretty discouraging.
    We’ll probably hit our high temp for the day around 6PM 🙂

  15. It’s amazing how much warmer today’s 64 is compared to yesterday’s. Nature’s AC sure makes a difference

      1. JPD you had 6 messages go to moderation due to a typo in the email address. I approved them just now.

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