Melt/Refreeze Cycle

Posted by Chris Lambert

What a mid-March day!  Lots of sun (except for the Cape) and lots of snow melting going on.  What a difference in temperatures too.  We only managed the upper 30s at the coast, but hit the low to mid 50s north and west of 495.  Fitchburg came in at 55 degrees.  An onshore component to the wind kept us much cooler inside 128. 

Good set-up tonight for temps to fall fast once the sun sets and that means our snowmelt refreezes into black ice on the sidewalks, driveways and side streets.  Temps cool the fastest away from the coast, with upper teens in the colder Worcester County and southern NH valleys to the low to mid 20s in many of the Boston burbs, to about 32 in the city.   With some marine air lingering around, I can't rule out patchy fog from forming overnight.

Tomorrow looks good again, maybe not a cloudless sky, but we'll take at least partly sunny skies again.  Temps are fairly similar with highs near 40 at the coast, and closer to 50 well inland.

Temps warm-up even more Monday and Tuesday, and that means 50s for many!  Monday still features mid to upper 40s at the immediate coast, but warm enough to melt more snow.  Tuesday brings us rain... and it WILL be rain this time.  Depending on how the evolution of a wave of low pressure forms along this front, we could wring out at least an inch of rain.  While that wouldn't cause significant river flooding, we may see swollen streams from snowmelt and rain, and I certainly can see us dealing with big puddles/ponding on the roads for the Tuesday evening commute.

Wednesday is a transition day.  We'll near 50 by mid-day, but that active west wind advects in cold air late in the day and by Thursday morning, you'll feel the difference.   A colder pattern is where we stay into the weekend. 

Unsettling

Posted by Jeremy Reiner

Another day where we have cool, ocean air battling warmer land air leading to a clash of air. That means clouds, drizzle, fog, humidity (frizzy hair) for much of the day. It's not a washout though. The highest chance of rain is this morning--until 9:30am and then later this afternoon (after 3pm). In between, you will see a lot of clouds but also some sunshine at times. Even limited sun will be able to shove temps well into the 70s. This warm & humid air is what will lead to another round of showers & t-storms later today. Some of the storms will be intense. Like the past two days the strongest storms will be in western New England. Only isolated showers/ thunderstorms are expected along the coastline later today. Sox game will have the risk of some showers but they should be able to play that game. Welcome back Tito!

Saved by The Sea Breeze

Posted by Pete Bouchard

Although my forecast was busted today, there was one good thing that came out of it.

Stability.

That gray overcast that hung over the eastern half of the Commonwealth provided a stablizing influence to our atmosphere. The cool air blowing in from the ocean kept the temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s all the way back to Metrowest. While that makes for lousy short-and-t-shirt weather, it is poison to thunderstorms.

Wild & Wacky

Posted by Jeremy Reiner

Wild temperatures yesterday---from the 80s down into the low 60s in just an hour AND some heavy duty thunderstorms. The reason was a cool front that dropped in from Maine. That front is in western New England this morning and it's a chameleon as it will become a warm front and try to warm things back up during the day.

Storms, Heat, Sea Breezes

Posted by Pete Bouchard

What a day! Breakneck temperature swings, thunder, tornadoes in Western Mass....and we're still in late May!