Unsettled Weekend / Perseid Salvage? / Work Week Shower Sandwich

111 Comments

8:52AM

A very slow-moving front interacting with tropical air will keep episodes of tropical showers going through Sunday evening. It won’t rain all the time in all of the area, but most areas will see several periods of wet weather.

It would take a miracle to get clear enough sky sometime overnight Saturday night & early Sunday to view any Perseid Meteors, but there is a better chance the area clears up later Sunday night to early Monday morning. This night will not produce as many meteors as the night before, but some would still be viewable. If we do get lucky enough to get some clear sky, Perseid meteors peak in the pre-dawn hours, after midnight. Streaks are often bright but usually thin and very fast-moving. The meteors appear to come from high in the northeastern sky.

Looking ahead to the work week, high pressure should dominate the beginning and end of the week with a frontal system in the middle causing some showers and thunderstorms Wednesday.

Updated forecast for eastern MA, RI, and southern NH…

TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY: Variably cloudy with episodes of showers and thunderstorms, some producing heavy downpours. Patchy fog especially Saturday night. Lows middle 60s to near 70. Highs middle 70s to lower 80s. Humid. Winds variable but mostly S up to 10 MPH, shifting to W later Sunday.

MONDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 61. High 83.

TUESDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 62. High 84.

WEDNESDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Low 66. High 85.

THURSDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 64. High 82.

FRIDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 65. High 85.

111 thoughts on “Unsettled Weekend / Perseid Salvage? / Work Week Shower Sandwich”

  1. Repost in light of TK’s comments.

    Today’s AccuWeather Trivia Quiz.

    The Perseid showers are tiny bits of debris from which comet?

    A. Swift-Tuttle
    B. Hale-Bopp
    C. Temple
    D. Halley

    (Have had one answer so far from Charlie who selected D.) Of course, I managed to get this one wrong too.

      1. Um…….. A ???? 🙂

        We were awoken about 2:30am this morning by the thunderstorms that grazed Marshfield, going just south of us. Boy, in the quiet of the night, you can actually hear the house make some rattling sounds when the thunder rumbles.

        1. s driving in it as we were taking my son to childrens er. All is well. Dowñ the pond now. Hoping the weather works out for the party today at noon. All food is being grilled.

    2. I’m going with A. Thought I’d posted that but don’t see it. Was in the car so may not have hit post comment. Thanks longshot. And I was laughing hysterically with the two glasses of wine. Glad you are ok

  2. Thanks, TK.

    It’s feeling very tropical out there.

    I am going with “A” re: Perseid showers.

    1. I gotta go with it. Too much consistency in recent runs and even if the front gets just east, it’s still unstable enough and you will also see moisture riding northward along the boundary. Hopefully everything kicks far enough east so late day it’s all done.

  4. We have plans to attend outdoor festivities tonight. Will the convection be scattered in nature or should we expect widespread/organized precip. to spoil the plans. I’m hoping as the atmosphere becomes more stable overnight that precip will be scattered in nature. Any thoughts?

    1. Hi, alisonrod – nice to see back on the blog! Wish I could answer that question accurately for you – I will leave that up to the people with more knowledge. My guess is it depends on the timing of your party. If it is before 7 there is more of a chance of rain. However, in this type of weather – it is way too unpredictable to predict time and location of any storm. My advice might be to have a set plan to run indoors and bring things in if necessary.

    3. It’s probably too late to help. I was at an afternoon-long bday party and could not get to the blog.

      Should be fine in most areas tonight!

  8. JJ or Ace or anyone interested the Francis ouimette story is on the golf channel. It’s a great movie and story

  9. Uh-oh – not again. Tornado warning out in Berkshires. Was seen on radar. Wonder if a tornado watch will be put up again – or a severe thunderstorm watch.

  10. Tornado warning now just a severe thunderstorm warning.

    OK – I like tracking thunderstorms, but I am very ready to welcome fall! And to open the windows and enjoy the cool, refreshing air.

    1. Glad tornado warning expired thanks rainshine

      I’m ready to open windows too. I know I’ve said it before but we have to keep windows closed in the winter. In summer they should be open so we can bring the outdoors in. First half of summer I felt as if we could do that. It seems lately its been all about humidity

      1. Vicki – I don’t usually open the windows in the winter. But, once in awhile, for just a few minutes, I may open the window and enjoy the brisk air. I tend to do that around Christmas – I guess because it feels like such a nice time to do it. 🙂

        1. Hehe. I do the same. I open our bedroom windows every morning just for a few minutes. And I’ve been known to pull the top half of the storm door down in the front of the house. I love fresh air.

  11. I like tracking thunderstorms to Rainshine. Waiting to see what the NWS finds are with that storm that hit Glastonbury, CT and whether it was a tornado that touched down there yesterday. As soon as it crossed into Southern CT you could see a notch starting to develop with that storm. Does not look a watch will be posted according to the latest discussion from the SPC.

    1. How come Barry kept,saying the tornado was still on the ground if he wasn’t sure it was a tornado. It surprised me that he’d say that unless he was sure but i didn’t understand how he could be sure

      1. Noticed that, too, Vicki. I kept changing from Matt Noyes to Barry. Both are good – but I agree with you re: Barry saying tornado on ground.

    2. That was an impressive radar in CT yesterday. The notch was easily seen and it certainly looked like a tornado was present. I wouldn’t mind tracking thunderstorms year round – I actually like it better than tracking snowstorms, as they usually, not always, develop slower and maybe are a little more predictable – kind of! 🙂 In any case, thunderstorms or not, looking forward to some nice autumn weather.

  12. This was one of the better tornado signatures I have seen since last June with the tornado in Springfield. Looking at the radar you could see the hook clearly. If this was a tornado I don’t remember the last one that tracked north like that storm did.

    1. I figured he had to be darned certain. It wouldn’t be like Barry not to be. Thanks for the explanation.

  15. I may be way off base with this as I don’t know much about tropic systems. With that upper low just sitting and spinning in the upper midwest pulling all that tropical moisture up the coast i am surprised no organized tropical system has formed along the front. Are the dynamics just not there for development? Is there too much shear?

    1. Interesting question. Has a tropical system ever formed along our coast? Really great question AceMaster.

      1. think about. Nor-easters can have that circular rotation as week with really strong winds. would not be surprised

    2. For a true tropical system you need warm enough water (80+), a warm core low pressure area, and enough high pressure aloft to set up good outflow. Those are not present along the coast at this time.

  16. Just read that the storm damage in Glastonbury. CT was not caused by a tornado but a mircroburst with winds of between 85-100 mph. This goes to show you don’t need a tornado to cause damage. I am surprised because the signature looked tornadic on radar.

    1. Thanks, JJ. That is surprising – everything looked tornadic on the radar. Is it possible that there might have been a funnel cloud that never reached the ground and that’s what showed up on radar? Then at some point, the microburst occurred?

  18. Totally off-topic: I heard on the WBZ-TV morning news that Boston has applied to host the 2026 Summer Olympics and the plan is for Fenway Park to hold the opening and closing ceremonies.

    After all, the 2004 Democratic Convention went so well here… 🙄

    1. That is a winter olympic year. its the winter they are talking about.. Here’s the link http://www.bostonwinterolympics.com/index.html . This site explains the whole think. but they were thinking of the 2024 summer as well. but they think winter is more likly for us. All our facilities are closer togeather than the winter olympics in vancover.Also some of the best skiing in the world.

        1. Thanks Matt for correcting me on the year…and as North said that it would be a nightmare for traffic and not to mention public transit as well. During the 2004 convention trash cans were removed and trains were constantly stopped so bomb sniffing dogs could come on board and check passengers. High security makes things so inconvenient throughout the city even for those who have no intention on participating.

  19. Hello Everyone from Toronto!

    Glad to hear everyone is safe from the storms yesterday. Things were pretty crazy there for a while. On our drive here yesterday, we hit a really bad storm around Lee at 11am in Western Mass. Torrential downpours, thunder, lightning and dime sized hail. Alot of people were pulled over on the pike. When we got to Watertown, NY. It was about 70 and the dewpoint was down to 60. It felt like a whole different world.

    Today it was like a November day here. Very breezy with drizzle, a couple heavier showers and a dewpoint that was very comfortable. Lots of interesting clouds too, under the upper level low. We may go to Niagra Falls on Monday, the only completely sunny day here.

    Talk to everyone soon!

        1. Hi North.

          No, the closest we came was when we went to Massena, NY. We could see it across the St. Lawrence River.

    2. Hi north. I’m sure happy to hear you arrived safely. It was a crazy day. Enjoy. I like November days 🙂

      1. Hi Vicki. Thanks! Spring and Fall are my favorite times of year 🙂 I would have liked it to be sunny though! Glad to see that the weather there wasn’t as nasty today.

  21. Interesting weather day. Up in south coastal Maine for some time and the winds were out of the east. Low clouds were streaming in off of the ocean. Heading home late afternoon, we suddenly went from dark gloom into fairly clear skies near the Topsfield area. Once clear of the low clouds, it wasnt too long before the towering cumulus appeared, mostly on the western and northern horizon, though there was a tall, lonely beautiful cumulus cloud east of Danvers. Then, about the Braintree split, the wind became southerly and when we got out, it was unbelievably warmer and more humid than it was in coastal NH or Maine.

    I see those thundershowers down in NJ and the DC area. Wonder if that may be southeastern New England’s later tonight ?

  22. “Work week shower sandwich”…hmmm…I wonder what that tastes like 😉

    I am praying for a miracle tonight with the meteors (shooting stars) I like calling them that better…it’s more magical haha 😀

      1. Yes. Northeast, radiating from Perseus or the Omega, after 10PM but especially between midnight and first light. 🙂

  23. It ended up being a fairly decent day down here in Plymouth. Had a cookout to attend and only felt a couple of raindrops. Still very muggy though so I am looking forward to some drier air someday in the near future I hope!

  24. Even though Logan reached a high of only 77 (3 degrees below normal) and a constant wind off the ocean, it still felt like a HHH type of day. The humidity is still awful. 🙁

    I did get my tax-free shopping done today though…at least no showers. 🙂

    2. I feel pretty confident we will be getting some fall like nights esp towards the end of the month 🙂

      1. Hey it’s always good to hear a younger person has an other mind. Makes us old ones feel better 🙂

    1. Wrong time of year for the NAO to be negative. We need that in the winter and hopefully it will stay negative for most
      of the winter like it has been this summer.

    3. Hey Matt. What has being going on with this chart lately? It has been all over place this week. Is there something going on with it. The forecast is now showing a dive now when a few days ago it looked totally different.

      TK – Is something going on with this chart this week?

  28. There have been many reports of bats flying into homes in and around the Boston area in the past few weeks. The bats are trying to escape the heat…no joke.

    Even animals and birds (whatever a bat actually is) have problems with HHH. A bat flew into my home a few years ago. It was very scary experience. 🙁

  32. I have another question. Why do the lines of showers that approach Boston from the west almost always seem to lift north around Route 495? Thanks….. 🙂

    1. Many times this is due to the fact that weakening showers/storms are no longer being fed by the updrafts that created them.

      The updrafts often develop southward while the upper winds may be pushing the overall system east northeast, so the net motion of the storm is mostly to the east. As soon as the storm loses its convective feed and switches to a storm that is raining itself out, the lower level stuff disappears, and the winds in the mid and upper levels push the remaining precipitation more to the northeast.

      Granted, this is not always exactly the way it happens, but it is a fairly frequent occurrence around here.

  33. A 2-mile-wide tropical downpour just developed right over me in Woburn (no rain Burlington or Stoneham at the moment). It was helping me illustrate to my son why he shouldn’t go bike-riding when the air mass is very unstable and tropical. 😉

    1. TK, now I am curious…does your son at this time have an interest in following in his father’s footsteps?

      2. He has shown some interest, but I think his heart is going to be in some combination of programming and engineering. He has shown remarkable ability in design and execution of projects. Not bad for a pre-teen.

      1. Other tropical downpours got you. Mine moved NE, as they all have been doing. We just got a brief one again here followed by a full double rainbow. 🙂

        1. I know. I was kidding. Sorry should have said that. Mine came driving right on Down the pike – literally – and the good part was it was from west so porch only got wet and didn’t flood this time

          1. Got yet another tropical downpour after 6PM (3rd of the day) and another rainbow (2nd of the day). Impressive view of the departing cumulonimbus followed.

              1. Here too. However, what a nice, red sunset with a few tall cumulus clouds to the northwest, passing out to the ocean. The red sun was turning the western side of the cumulus cloud pink.

                2. Very good ! A few people were sitting on the seawall, a few on their decks and some on the restaurant deck’s. Its full summer mode !

  37. In case anyone lives near charles river in certain areas there is an algae bloom that is dangerous I’d even touched. Weston, newton and darned if I can remember other areas. I suspect with low water and heat it may become a problem in other places. First time in Charles in all the years they’ve been monitoring

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