West Wind Weekend

145 Comments

11:30AM

A westerly flow will dominate the region, not the frequent east wind we often see this time of year. Sunshine will be limited today due to low level moisture and cold air moving in aloft. This is a recipe for lots of clouds, and even when the sun does shine it just cooks up more clouds. By Sunday, the lower level moisture will be gone and the upper air will be warming, which means much more sunshine!

Monday and Tuesday will be the time for the approach and passage of a southern stream storm system, the center of which will pass northwest of New England and up the St. Lawrence Valley Tuesday. This means that we enter the warm sector on Tuesday, after sun gets filtered and faded by increasing clouds Monday and we get a good slug of rain Monday night. Though being in the warm sector Tuesday does not mean we bust out in to abundant warm sunshine. There will be lots of moisture so clouds will dominate and some showers may linger.

Midweek, that is, Wednesday and Thursday, will resemble today and Sunday in many aspects, though it looks like moisture will be little less available Wednesday so cloudiness should be less extensive than what we are seeing today.

The next weather system arrives Friday – a cold front, with a chance of rain showers. The timing of this front is uncertain. A slower timing of the front would mean a warmer day, a quicker timing would mean a more unsettled day with clouds and showers. But why worry so much about day 7? Let’s just wait and see, and enjoy a pretty decent spell of weather through midweek other than the clouds today and the rainy interruption Monday night into Tuesday.

Detailed forecast for southeastern New England…

THIS AFTERNOON: Partly sunny to mostly cloudy. Highs 50-58, coolest in the hills NW of Boston, mildest interior southeastern MA and northern RI. Wind W 10-20 MPH and gusty.

TONIGHT: Decreasing clouds. Lows in the 30s. Wind W 10-20 MPH and gusty.

SUNDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs in the 50s. Wind W 10-20 MPH and gusty.

MONDAY: Sunny start, cloudy finish, rain at night. Low 35. High 57.

TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy, rain showers through midday. Low 48. High 66.

WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny to partly cloudy. Low 36. High 53.

THURSDAY: Partly cloudy to mostly sunny. Low 33. High 61.

FRIDAY: Variably cloudy, chance of rain showers. Low 46. High 64.

145 thoughts on “West Wind Weekend”

    1. You’d have gotten to 60 this afternoon with full sun I think. Unfortunately the stratocu brigade is marching in.

  3. This morning I put away the snow shovel for the season. I will next put away my sweater, but as for the rest of my winter clothing (coat, hat, gloves) I will put them away on a gradual basis. Living in Boston along the coast can be really bone chilling when there is an onshore wind. I suppose if I was living in a western suburb, I could put away all winter clothing, but for now I am too “chicken” to do so until at least the end of the month. I certainly hope May will be nice and warm, but I also remember May 2002…not to mention 2009.

  5. Little slice of sun in immediate Metro Boston as of 1:25 but abundant stratocumulus rolling in from the W. We’ll see this all day and evening. Lots of clouds, few intervals of sun.

      1. Not as far as I can look ahead with any confidence.

        We’re out of the Winter PV pattern, but we’re in a near to below normal temperature pattern. There will be some warm days interspersed among the cooler ones.

  6. Thanks TK.
    Philip you mentioned May 2002. I remember how cool it was especially on my senior class trip to a place called in Mountainside in Wallingford, CT. It was a cloudy day with highs in the 50s. The pool water was a little too cold to go in for a swim that day.
    However that summer turned out to be really warm with a lot of 90 degree days.

  7. Just touched 50 here. Sun felt good when it was out. Wind is gusting to low 20s but fortunately is not the sea breeze we all hope for in summer

    Thank you TK

  8. Thanks TK !

    EURO/GFS maintain next Friday as potential mildest/warmest day of the year so far.

    EURO’s 850mb forecasted temps are +10C.

      1. The Euro seems to have that front timed to move through pretty early. So first clouds and showers will cap it, and then cold advection will continue the job.

          1. Nope. Merely just model observation.

            It’s just too far away to really tell when that front will be. It can range anytime from late Thursday night to early Saturday morning this far out. πŸ™‚

    1. We BARELY reached 54 and that was that. Now 51.3

      Nice, but NOT nice enough. 😈

      Yes, I am extremely Fussy!

    2. Your area will get more sun between the clouds from here to sunset while to the north of Boston clouds still dominate but we do have some sunshine at times.

  10. I won’t take the possibility of some 60 degree temps off the table for Friday since it’s so far away, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the only day that has a shot of 60+ for most of the region in the next 7 days is Tuesday. Some places approach it tomorrow and possibly Monday, but we get into a legit warm sector, albeit with lots of clouds, Tuesday. Wednesday is a strong cold advection day and I don’t think the warm air gets here in time on Thursday to reach 60 widespread, let alone the 70+ that appeared on some 7-day forecasts during the last few days. We wait a bit longer for those kinds of temps.

    1. I’m just happy we r consistently in the 50’s to 60 degrees for highs, been a fairly nice spring so far imo, by the end of April we should begin to approach 70 degrees with consistency. We shall see, i planted some cheap flowers today, I wanna see if they die or if they make it, there geraniums, sorta an experiment πŸ™‚ good day tk

      1. Not seeing any persistent much below normal temps even tho we’re a bit on the cool side, so they should make it.

  13. UConn is an impressive team.

    Yup Vicki, that March Madness thing continues into April. πŸ˜‰

          1. I’m not really a big fan of college basketball. It’s OK, but basketball is not my game. I just enter my brother’s pool for the fun of it. Looks like I’m a lock for 8th place out of 80 people. I’ll take it. Won some money. πŸ˜‰

            I think hockey is much more exciting. πŸ˜€

  15. I love how you said “rainy interruption”. It sounds like a title for something. Maybe a future blog post? πŸ˜‰

  16. The CPC confirms TK’s thoughts regarding near to below normal temps for the forseeable future. With these rains lately and more in the coming days, at least there won’t likely be any brushfire danger this spring. There should also be good snowmelt up in NNE…most of Maine has 35-40″+ still on the ground.

  19. Today’s AccuWeather Trivia Quiz.

    What is the hottest April temperature ever recorded in Boston?
    A. 88
    B. 90
    C. 92
    D. 94

    Answer later today. Can you guess the year?

    3. I’ll say D and think it was this century. I believe it hit 100 or was close in the suburbs maybe there was a hotter year thought. I’m thinking 2000 or 2001 but my girls will remember

      2. Since I’m having a conversation with myself here this morning, I’ll just continue. My youngest finally got back to me. Im going with 2002 or 1976 as both were very hot but have more confidence in 2002

      1. πŸ˜€

        Hot Easter Sunday and then Marathon Monday – The “Run For The Hoses” πŸ˜‰

      2. Our company has a client conference every April and I remember we were all dressed in winter clothes. I remember it well also but bet 2002 was close if not higher.

  21. Its only 7F atop Mt. Washington.

    Temps arent exactly going to zoom up this morning with that kind of chill above us.

  23. Are the golf enthusiasts watching the kids at Augusta this morning. What a thrill for those kids. And see how considerate golfers are. They don’t preempt jeopardy for days on end πŸ˜‰

  24. Good Sunday Morning, all! and it looks to be a beauty ☼
    Vicki’s conversation with herself sounds very convincing, so I think I’ll go with D. 94˚ too! πŸ™‚

  25. Absolutely beautiful sunny spring morning, the kids have been outside since 7:30am, they woke me up with there laughing and giggling, love these days, temp is already 45.4 degrees, I think we come close to 60 degrees if not 61 or 62 degrees in a few locales this afternoon, going to plant a little more today, pool opening will be on April 17th weekend this year, have a great day everyone πŸ™‚

    1. I really like some of these maps available with the Eurowx.com site!

      So far, WELL worth the $8.95 per month subscription price tag. Even
      NOT in the Winter season. πŸ˜€

      No, I am not soliciting, just sharing with the WHW community.

  29. D. For the trivia answer. I believe it was Easter Sunday when it happened.
    32 years ago today SNE was dealing with a snowstorm and it was a very cold storm for the time time of year.
    Old Salty I like those EURO maps you post and hopefully they show lift index values as well as CAPE when thunderstorm threats happen here. I know the NAM and GFS do that on instant weather maps.

      1. Actually, it has Cape and a bunch of other indices, but NOT
        lifted index. I’ll have to write to those TURKEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  30. Huge fire at Lakeview Pavillion in Foxboro last night. We were close to having our wedding reception there, good thing we chose elsewhere. My heart breaks for anyone who has a reception coming up there this year. Major damage to the facility πŸ™

    2. When I first got my license, I used to drive my Sister over there on Friday nights for a dance and pick her up later. No, at the time, I wasn’t interested in the dance.

      Sad, sad situation.

  31. As promised, after the clouds of yesterday, the sun of today. πŸ™‚

    Won’t be TOO warm but the sun will sure feel warm if you are in it. An occasional brisk westerly breeze. I think I may spend a few hours loosening the still hibernating grass in the yard after the winter of being snow-flattened. Rake-rake-rake!

    1. That west northwest wind will be the reason today feels much cooler. Bringing in cooled air from a snow packed region. Been outside for part of the morning and it hasn’t been enjoyable.

  32. For the trivia question I’ll say D. It was likely 1976. I remember that particular April well. This was a time that many households still didn’t have A/C’s.

  33. TK – When you mentioned the Winter PV pattern it got me thinking: It is obvious we were under the PV for the April 6-7 1982 and April Fool’s 1997 snows, but were we also under the PV influence for the late April 1987 and May 1977 storms as well?

    1. I need to look at some historical weather maps to see. I will get back to you by evening. πŸ™‚

    1. They had a special collection to pick up all the big branches that were downed by the heavy wet snow on the already leafed-out trees.

      Welcome to the blog. πŸ™‚

      1. Thank you for the welcome. I love weather always have. The big reason I remember it was because it was my fathers birthday.

            1. I believe that Taunton’s thermometer is incorrectly calibrated and therefore runs too warm on sunny days. I have noticed for quite some time that they are warmer than everyone around them almost every time the sun shines. I usually take 2 degrees off whatever they report under those conditions.

  37. when is this baskeball thing done.,, Football, hockey, Socer, Baseball all better than basketball…. Football ,hockey and soccer all fun to watch and play baseball is ok to watch but good to play.. basketball is ok to play boring as all hell to watch πŸ˜€

    what wonderful weather we are having πŸ™‚

    1. What irritates me is when the damn basketball interferes with my favorite
      TV shows, like Big Bang Theory, Elementary and the channel 4 news at 11!!!. Really pisses me off. Screw basketball. 😈

      2. We both enjoy those two shows OS. Last man standing and blue bloods on Friday have been repeats foe a bit too but not this past week.

  38. Answer to Today’s AccuWeather Trivia Quiz.

    What is the hottest April temperature ever recorded in Boston?
    A. 88
    B. 90
    C. 92
    D. 94

    The answer is D and I believe the year was 1976.

    1. Thanks Longshot. Only reason I thought 1976 was because I had said 1977 a while ago and TK corrected me. I’m willing to bet 2002 was darn close.

  40. What a day. We were on the deck and beach from 10:00 until about 2:30. I managed to get a bit of a burn. Kids were in bare feet playing in the sand. Thank you SS folks for arranging a beauty. I’d like to think the influx of family we had was to see us, but I suspect it has much more to do with the weather. We saw many others down here opening up their homes. I was terribly jealous πŸ™‚

    1. It was a great day, wasn’t it ?

      I was conscious myself of trying not to get a burn, but at that same time, I think you had to stay in the sun to be comfortable.

      1. I didn’t think I was out that long. I don’t like getting burns for health reasons so rarely do. It sure was a perfect day!!

        1. Today’s sun altitude was the same as Sept 5th.

          Friday of this week is August 31st.

          We are nearing solar summer. πŸ™‚

  42. One thing I noticed on the GFS is the storms are there but they move along. I can deal with an average to cool spring so long as things stay moving along.

  43. So far I’d say we have had a great start to the month. Of course I consider driving rain, high wind and big surf great so maybe I’m not a good judge. But seriously, it’s been very nice.

      1. My girls were house sitting in hopkinton and we had to get fans to them. That’s how I knew they’d remember. I haven’t had time to look but will. I know it hit 100 in hopkinton. But of course Boston would be cooler

            1. I think that is why I don’t remember some unless there is something very specific or in the case of April 29 very late

  44. Today’s full sun seem to add some green to the yards. Noticing maybe 50-75% of lawn has some green to it.

  46. Philip…

    As best I can tell, the May 1977 snowstorm was an anomalously strong 500mb low that captured a surface storm and stacked up, and intensified quickly enough that some massive dynamic cooling took place. This accounts for the vast difference in snow amounts from the coastal plain to the hills in central MA and southwestern NH.

    The April 6 1982 storm was in a pattern where the northern jet was further south than normal and the southern jet was active. There was a rainstorm on April 3 late day and night because I remember standing out in it talking to a couple of girls I was friends with in a nearby neighborhood. It took all of the next 2 days to get that low by us as it was large and intensifying, even though it passed north of the region. By Monday April 5, we were in the back side of the low and it delivered a nasty shot of Arctic air. The winds were howling that afternoon which was more like January. Next came the fairly fast moving but intense April 6 bomb on its heels which was an Ohio Valley low that redeveloped on the Mid Atlantic Coast and bombed out as it passed the benchmark with the upper low going just southeast of New England while Arctic air drained in. It was a classic mid winter setup in early Spring. The low turned into a 970 monster just east of New England and pulled down more Arctic air through April 7 which was basically in the teens to lower 20s all day.

    The April 28-29 1987 LATE snow event (in which I had over 10 inches in Woburn) was a very strong upper low and intense dynamic cooling. The surface low(s) were not that strong and fairly disorganized to start, then a main low took over and moved northwestward to near Cape Cod then wandered northward into the Gulf of Maine. This thing was mainly all upper level driven. Virtually all the snow melted on the afternoon the storm ended when the sun came out even with the double digit amount here.

    The April 1 1997 storm was basically born of an anomalously strong and cold upper low as part of an omega block with an accompanying surface low. The warm air of 2 days prior was just obliterated by cold air being generated by the upper low and being brought down. Super dynamic cooling while loads of moisture was being thrown in on the region. Imagine if it was colder to start with, the 1 to 2 inches of rain the day before would have also been snow. My goodness. 30-50 inches anyone? πŸ˜‰

    1. Thanks TK. I don’t remember the 1982 storm but suspect its because I don’t think of that being late. I remember the others and really likes your explanation and your memories. πŸ™‚

      1. Yes, Thanks TK! πŸ™‚

        Interesting how those storms were very complex to say the least. I have to remember “dynamic cooling” as the key for most spring snowstorms. πŸ˜‰

  47. We should have also talked about the March 29 1984 storm. A solid foot of snow in just several hours and a storm with one of the steadiest near gale force winds even inland that I have seen. You could lean into them nearly 45 degrees and be held up. I did that on the way home from school, which somehow was NOT let out. The storm started in the morning just after school and peaked that afternoon and evening. During its height, cloud to ground lightning strikes were taking place – some houses were hit.

    Here is a map sequence. Mouse along the times at the top to advance them.

    http://mp1.met.psu.edu/~fxg1/NARR/1984/us0329.php

    1. Now that one I remember with a smile and yes I know it was destructive and am not smiling about that. But over 4 days without power. Awesome.

  48. It’s funny looking back on all these storms. One thing is clear, storms are not getting more intense now. There have always been intense and anomalous storms. We go through up and down times with them, but on average we have just as many intense storms now as we have always had. We just have a more complete set of data to view now, and a very vast network of observing and ways to circulate that data from satellites numerous times multiplied from what we had even in the 1980s, to ships, planes, remote sensors, and millions of cell phones ready with their cameras.

    The monster always looks more menacing when you stand on its lower lip and stare it in the teeth than viewing it vaguely and from a distance.

    1. Hmmmmm. I’m too tired to think hard on that. But the coastline has changed significantly in the past three decades. But perhaps it is going back to what it was. And are the intense storms more frequent? I’ll think about that when I have both eyes open. One thing for sure…a day in beach sun and salt air makes you sleepy

    2. There was an “expert” on CBS’s Face The Nation this morning that blames global warming for hurricane Sandy and other recent major storms. I don’t believe it in the least.

      1. I don’t believe or disbelieve. I believe completely that we are doing irreparable damage to this earth and we absolutely have to stop.

      2. Sandy was unique. The Perfect Storm was unique. The March 1993 Superstorm was unique. The Portland Gale was unique. The Great Snows of 1717 was unique. The 100-Hour Storm in February 1969 was unique. Do you see where I’m going with this?

        How many intense storms (both tropical and non tropical) have impacted areas similar to Sandy before there was property to damage? Multitudes.

        THAT SAID. I agree with Vicki that we can be our own worst enemy and an enemy of the planet we live on when we are careless.

        It can never hurt to take care of our home.

  49. Missed the beautiful day today as we all sat in a boston hospital er with my son. Looks like he and I have some kind of virus . Think mine is just a classic raging cold .

    2. Oh no John. I know something very nasty is going around. My oldests kids have it. I’m convinced its a flu but then that’s my gut feeling. I hope you BOTH feel better very very soon.

  51. I rented a seed slicer today to over seed the front lawn. Plus I fertalized and layed down grub pesticide. I am wondering if it will all wash away tomorrow night?

  52. Working on The Week Ahead…

    Some of you may be asleep before it’s posted, but it will be here in the morning for your viewing pleasure. For those of you who cannot be awake long enough to see it tonight, here’s a preview…

    Monday: Bright start, filtered sun finish, rain at night, mostly overnight, thunder possible.
    Tuesday: Showers/storms in the morning-midday. Dry air will try to work in. How much sun? Not sure yet. Mild!
    Wednesday: Cooler, drier. Pop up clouds and maybe a shower with cold air aloft?
    Thursday: Sunny then high clouds. Cold start, mild finish.
    Friday: Cold front moves through with rain showers.
    Weekend: Looks fair and cool Saturday, warmer Sunday.

  53. I find it interesting that there are more viruses out there in April and May than during the winter months. It has happened to me over the years. I had a real nasty one back in 2001 and had to stay home from work for 2 weeks and still took me another month to fully recover. I had to see a specialist.

    Get better John…and your son as well! πŸ™‚

    1. Philip I agree and wonder if the flu shot is being given too early and wears off by this time. I seem to always have a late march or early April virus. Whatever my daughters kids had could sure qualify as flu. And their school and my grandsons school is overrun by it

  54. Just returned a few hours ago from another great day skiing at Killington. They are continuing up there with mid winter conditions and deep snow pack with no bare spots. Temp was 23 when we got there and 36 when we left – far cry from the 60 my car thermometer indicated when we crossed back into CT!

    80+ trails still open and the ones that were closed were not due to lack snow cover but due to them scaling back operations or due to icy conditions on ungroomed trails as the result of a pretty big ice storm they had up there Friday night. Groomed trails though were fast and in great condition. Top of the mountain was beautiful with all the trees ensconsed in snow and ice, and tremendous visibility up to 80+ miles. You could clearly make out Mt Washington to the NE, Mt Mansfield to the north, and the High Peaks of the Adirondacks to the west. It doesn’t get much better for April skiing!

    1. So glad you had a perfect time and thank you for sharing. Brings back special memories while you make new memories for you !

  55. Today is my first time on this blog. I have to say ai throughly enjoy this blog. I love weather.

    1. If you have been following us, you know we are…..hmmmm, how do I phrase it…..unique :). Welcome to the best weather blog there is πŸ™‚

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