DAYS 1-5 (MARCH 28- APRIL 1)
As we head down the home stretch of March and arrive at April, we’ll start the 5-day period with a day a little reminiscent of mid winter, with varying amounts of clouds, perhaps a snow flurry, and well-below normal high temps in the 30s with a gusty breeze often making it feel more like the 20s. The difference between then and now is the sun angle, and that always takes the edge off the chill, if you’re fortunate enough to be in it while outside, also assuming it’s not hidden by the varying cloud cover that’s expected. Summary: If you have to be outside today, you may want a heavier jacket and a hat (and maybe gloves)! As we head to Sunday, we lose much of the wind, gain about a half dozen to a dozen degrees back on the temperature, and have more sunshine, but eventually mixed with high to mid level clouds – an indicator of warmer air returning aloft. This marks the transition to a few days of warmer weather ahead. The final two days of March and the first day of April all have the strong potential to produce above normal temperatures, but I do caution that a couple waves of low pressure passing to our north and high pressure in eastern Canada can send a frontal boundary southward far enough to thwart that warm-up for several hours at some point on Tuesday. This boundary can also bring heavier clouds and the chance of a few rain showers along with it. While it’s day 5 and lower confidence, I do see some signs that the boundary gets whisked back to the north as a more formidable low travels through the Great Lakes on Wednesday. That could push a warmer surge back through our region, and likely will, but even with that, the stronger southwesterly wind that would accompany it would end up being a cooling breeze for the South Coast and Cape Cod, which is typical for this time of year. Depending on the time of the low’s trailing and approaching cold front, we may end up seeing another shower threat by Wednesday’s end.
TODAY: Variably cloudy. A possible snow flurry. Highs 36-43. Wind NW 10-20 MPH, higher gusts.
TONIGHT: Clearing. Lows 22-29. Wind NW to W 5-15 MPH.
SUNDAY: Sunshine gives way to clouds. Highs 43-50. Wind W 5-15 MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Lows 35-42 evening, but may rise slightly overnight. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
MONDAY: Partly sunny. Highs 48-55 South Coast, 56-63 elsewhere. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
MONDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Lows 40-47. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
TUESDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of a rain shower southern NH / northern MA. Highs 60-67 except cooler South Coast, and may end up cooler in southern NH / northern MA. Wind SW 5-15 MPH, may shift to N or NE in southern NH / northern MA.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. Lows 45-52 early, then rises overnight. Wind variable to SW 5-15 MPH.
WEDNESDAY: Variably cloudy. Late-day or nighttime rain showers possible. Highs 52-59 South Coast, 60-67 just inland from South Coast through MA South Shore, 67-74 elsewhere. Wind SW 10-20 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (APRIL 2-6)
A couple of brief warmer spikes can occur during a time I expect our region to be on the colder side of a boundary. The greatest chance of unsettled weather is April 3 and later April 5 or 6, the first with a low pressure wave moving along the boundary, the second with a frontal system from the west.
DAYS 11-15 (APRIL 7-11)
Still expecting a continuation of the battle-zone pattern through this period as well with some unsettled episodes and temperature swings.
Thanks TK !
Wordle: got it in 6.
Great getting it.
JP Dave…
This comes straight from NOAA’s glossary. They do also regard “snow flurries” and “light snow showers” as being the same, although they also define them somewhat separately. As I said, grey area, open to interpretation within reason.
Snow Flurries
Snow flurries are an intermittent light snowfall of short duration (generally light snow showers) with no measurable accumulation (trace category).
Snow Shower
A snow shower is a short duration of moderate snowfall. Some accumulation is possible.
Snow Squall
A snow squall is an intense, but limited duration, period of moderate to heavy snowfall, accompanied by strong, gusty surface winds and possibly lightning (generally moderate to heavy snow showers). Snow accumulation may be significant.
Ok, I can buy that. Sounds very reasonable. Thank you.
Thanks TK
Thanks TK!
Wordle: 3
Great 3.
Wordle 5 for me. Took me till guess 4 to get more than 2 letters.
Good 5.
Nice Vicki !
Great score Sue and a nice Dave phew Tom
Now I am afraid to even try.
DAVE = save
Good morning and thank you TK
32 here, up from low of 29
Ocean: 39
WORDLE: 3
After 2 guesses, Had 3 letters in position then had 2 word choices. For once,I chose the correct one.
Superb JpDave and Sue !
Thanks Tom.
Wow. Great JPD!!
Congratulations to all the Wordlers!
I was lucky to get it in 4. I made a bone-headed second guess that left a letter in the same wrong position from the first guess.
Nice !
Nice 4. I do that more times than I want, that’s for sure.
Great 4. And ugh. I suspect we have all done that
Sox home opener Friday, maybe a rain/sleet/snow postpone?
Looking forward to Monday thru Wednesday temps.
Is early. Or am I remembering years ago when opener closer to mid April
yes, like the 9th,10th, 11th or 12th
Thank you. My company had its yearly international conference at the Copley in April. As memory serves me, it was the same week as the opener
Flurries flying.
Sun shining here. 🙂
Wordle 5
Very nice. Welcome to the 5 car
Nice 5
Thank you, sir TK. Up 5 degrees from our low to 30. Clouds and blue sky and lovely sunshine
ONLY up to 33. Our low was 28, not the 29 I reported earlier.
Given the winter we had in southern and western states, I think water rationing will become an even more serious need. The Colorado River which is about 1,500 miles long and serves 7 states is thought to be down 20% over the past century in terms of water flow. This winter didn’t help!
There are many plans around with possible solutions but they are steeped in politics, scientific scrutiny, and general over-think. Not easy to find a solution that makes 7 states and 40 million people happy.
Could be some tough rationing this summer.
FWIW, the Quabbin Reservoir is down 10′ or 75-80 billion gallons from capacity. Not in a danger zone yet but hydrologists are watching.
I don’t know if you saw my comment to you on an earlier blog. Mac said maybe two decades ago that we will face a water shortage. It was one of the focuses of his position at the company. It still amazes me that we rarely hear it mentioned
I did see your post. I think it was posted during a drought discussion here.
Also I did see the bird!!
🙂
Did you see the buds on the tree? Same time as last year and a wonderful sign of spring. And hummingbirds are getting close.
I have hopes that a quicker transition to El Nino will bring precipitation to the Southwest earlier. A monsoon season that may end up good, and then transitions to a wetter than average “fire season”, which may get off to a fast start, then get snuffed out.
We’ll see how it evolves.
Precip earlier would be good! I was told that this very subject, which is concerning, has popped up recently on hydrology blogs though I haven’t seen it myself.