Wet Start...Better Finish
I will start off with the good news. It looks like this will be a great Memorial day with sunshine and temps climbing into the mid-upper 60's. Great weather for the parades and honoring those that have given their lives for this country. Once the sun returns, temps will be well on their way to climbing into the 70's for the midweek!
OK...now the bad news. This is no way to unofficially open up the summer season. Showers and storms last night dumped a widespread 1-2" rainfall across the region. The ground is saturated, so any more downpours could start top give way to some localized flash flooding as streams will be quick to rise. Mild southerly winds have kept temps in the 60's this morning and that is where they will remain this afternoon. Some areas may approach near 70. While the heaviest of the rain and storms has shifted off the coast, there is still a steady feed of moisture streaming up the coast ahead of a slow moving cold front. This front will trigger periodic showers or a thunderstorm through the afternoon and evening before stalling off our coast.
Winds will be shifting from the south to the NW later today as the front passes. This cooler wind direction will direct cooler air in from Canada. Along this stalled front off the coast and area of Low pressure will sit and deepen. The atmosphere will be stacked with a huge upper low capturing the surface low and slowly directing into the Gulf of Main over the course of the weekend. Showers continue tonight through Saturday...with rain heavy at times...especially inland. With rain and cool breezy NW winds on Saturday...highs will remain steady and chilly in the 40's and Lwr 50's. An additional 1-2" of rain could fall by Sunday...with heavier amounts in the NW. Enough cold air could mix in Saturday night that snow will likely fall in the highest elevations of VT & NW on the backside of this low!
BY Sunday, the Upper low will begin to low lift out. Early showers should begin to taper off with clouds beginning to lift and break by the afternoon hours. I still expect Mostly cloudy skies with temps cool in the 50's with breezy west winds...but the drier weather will be a welcome addition to addition to the weekend...By mid to late afternoon skies will be breaking are starting to fill with sunshine. By Monday, sunshine will be out in full with dry warmer west winds and highs climbing into the mid-upper 60's
Thereafter, a huge upper level ridge will be shifting to the east coast allowing for plenty of sunshine and warming temperatures into the 70's and eventually into the 80's by the end of the week. Hang in there folks! This Weekend will be getting better before you know it!
