9:31AM
The battle will be on between a Great Lakes trough and a western Atlantic ridge for several days. The ridge will eventually win out for much of southern New England, but enough of a battle from the trough will be given to result in a continued threat of showers and thunderstorms for several days. The thing is, there will be high variability in rain coverage. Widespread wet times will be few, scattered to isolated coverage will be much more common.
First, we have a wedge of cooler air that came southwestward last evening behind a disturbance and pseudo-back-door cold front. It has left low clouds and areas of fog in much of the region and it will take a while to burn that away today. During this time, a band of heavier clouds just to the south as indicating the position of a boundary between this cooler air and the return push of warm and humid air from the south. This boundary will be a focus for generation of some rain as we go through today and this evening, but there is some question as to exactly how much rain will generate and fall in the region. I’m banking on less than some have advertised. So today may feature more “bark” than “bite” in terms of clouds and rainfall. By later tonight, we will see a heavier band of rain and embedded thunderstorms move in from the west with a trough line swinging out from a low pressure center passing northwest of New England. The axis of this heavy rain should time through southern New England between midnight and mid morning Friday. The remainder of Friday may not feature all that much in the way of widespread rain, but we’ll still have to look for isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms. This boundary will be close to the coast or maybe just offshore, and along with a more established southerly flow of tropical air, showers and thunderstorms will be possible any time during the weekend, favoring Saturday over Sunday, but it’s quite possible that long rain-free periods will take place as well.
Retrogression (westward-movement) of the ridge of high pressure in the western Atlantic will take place during the first half of next week, putting the region into hotter conditions, still humid, and still with a threat of showers and storms, but more isolated with time as the axis of most likely activity shifts to the west.
Tomorrow, a special 10-day forecast looking out through the entire first week of July.
Updated forecast for southeastern New England…
TODAY: Low clouds and areas of fog through the morning. Remaining mostly cloudy midday through afternoon however breaks of sun and isolated showers both possible. Highs in the 70s, upper 60s few coastal points. Wind E 5-15 MPH.
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Areas of light rain possible in the evening, favoring southern NH. Widespread showers/thunderstorms arriving west to east mainly after midnight. Lows in the 60s. Wind E to SE 5-15 MPH.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with showers and embedded thunderstorms ending west to east in the morning. Partly sunny with isolated to scattered passing showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs 80-85 except 70s some coastal areas. Wind SE to S 10-20 MPH.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Variably cloudy. Episodes of scattered showers/thunderstorms. Lows 65-70. Highs 75-85, coolest south-facing coastal areas.
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy. Daily risk of isolated to scattered thunderstorms. Lows 66-72. Highs 77-90, coolest south-facing coastal areas.