Less Heat..More Humidity
After officially reaching 93 in Boston today, our heat wave is coming to an end. Since Wednesday we have been 90+, the first 5 day heat wave we have seen since late August 2010. Scattered storms erupted this afternoon, with some locally strong and severe storms in central MA. This is something we are going to have to get used to as it appears to be a bit of an unsettled week of weather.
The heat ridge off the coast is breaking down and pulling away. What a perfect weekend of summer weather! I am sorry for those of you who suffer in the heat & the humidity...but this was just awesome for the summer lovers who wait all year for this. Perfect beach weather all around! With the high pulling off the coast, the flow of moisture coming out of the Gulf will be able to shift east once again. There is a potent shortwave which will be shifting east and crossing New England tomorrow. Partly sunny skies, With light SW winds and very humid conditions will remain in place Monday with highs in the mid-upper 80's. Not as hot but still stuffy! There is a chance with enough sun, that Boston points south could reach 90 again!
A cold front currently draped across the Canadian border will be sagging south during the day and will be the trigger for afternoon convection to fire once again. Locally heavy downpours with the potential for some stronger to severe storms to develop. Showers and storms will quiet down again Monday night as the fronts settles and stalls over us Tuesday. Tuesday looks a bit cooler, especially across Northern and coastal areas..but not by much. Highs will still be in the lwr-mid 80s. Humidity will go nowhere this week, and with the front still in place the potential for an afternoon thunderstorm.
A trough will be pushing into the Great Lakes by the midweek. This will steer in a SW flow of aloft and allow temps and humidity to start to rise again. While temps will try to return to seasonal level, SW flow will help to keep temps in the mid-upper 80's from Wednesday to Thursday. Wednesday looks warm and humid with the focus of most storms remaining west of us. A warm front will be pushing through which will come with some clouds and the risk of a few showers..but it mainly just bring in the warmer and more humid airmass ahead of a cold front which will push through New England Thursday.
Thursday will be a day of more showers and the potential for stronger storms. We may get into the warm sector ahead of the front, but clouds and showers should help to keep temps mainly in the 80's. The front will push off the coast Friday and stall. The problem is the high in the western Atlantic will begin to back westward AGAIN! This will slow the eastward progression of the trough. a steady flow of moisture will extend up the coast with showers streaming up the coast and back into New England for Friday and possibly into the weekend before the upper low can finally pull away. Winds will be shifting to a cooler SE wind direction so 70's become more likely. Cooler temps yes, but a wetter weekend in the cards? I will take the heat of this weekend over a wet weekend anyday. Let's hope this pattern shifts a little. Today it looks wet...but the confidence on how this all plays is out is still a bit low this far away.
We are watching the tropics as the National Hurricane Center is likely going to be finding a tropical depression or possibly TS Chantal. This storm will be heading to the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. It will be adding moisture into a humid plume of moisture extending up the coast by next weekend. There is the potential by the end of the week we will pick up another 1-2+" of rain. How this tropical system gets involved in the overall pattern remains to be seen, but we are definitely going to be busy here tracking all these storms with periodic downpours the next several days. Enjoy the dry times as always!
