DAYS 1-5 (JULY 15-19)
You’re now well aware that the smoke plume from Canada / Minnesota wildfires was squeezed and thickened by the jet stream, presenting much more impactfully in our region yesterday than predicted – enough to hold forecast high temperature down by several degrees, with virtual no 90+ readings in the WHW forecast area. The same will be true today and even part of Thursday, though no widespread 90+ readings were expected Thursday anyway. We’ll also see a reduction in humidity as a series of cold fronts drop through the region behind low pressure in eastern Canada, and breezy weather here between that low and high pressure to our south. We do run the chance of a quick-hitting shower or thunderstorm with the final front in the series in southern NH and eastern MA later Thursday, but that’s about it other than any early morning showers (remnants of thunderstorms) that pass through southern NH and eastern MA basically as I write this blog update. I don’t even think we’ll see much of anything trigger south of I-90 today as I had previously been expecting – maybe an isolated shower toward the South Coast should be about it. Friday’s set to be a less smoky, pleasant day with a nice northerly air flow and low humidity. Our weekend is still a little questionable. I’d been leaning toward more trough in eastern Canada deflecting an incoming disturbance to our southwest, but guidance is fighting me on this with its trend for a more northeastward track for the low. Ultimately, my estimation of eastern Canadian troughing was probably overcooked, but maybe so much so that the low coming our way will pass so far to the north, all we end up having to deal with are a couple of shower and t-storm threats from a warm frontal passage Saturday and a cold frontal passage Sunday. Obviously, timing and details are still in the process of being worked out, so generic wording today will hopefully be followed by more distinctive wording on the next update.
TODAY: Variably cloudy. Considerable high to mid altitude smoke. Passing plumes of near-surface smoke. Possible shower / t-storm very early southern NH / northeastern MA. Isolated South Coast shower later. Highs 83-90, cooler parts of Cape Cod / Islands. Dew point drops below 60. Wind NW 5-15 MPH, gusty.
TONIGHT: Smoke / haze. Patchy clouds. Lows 62-69. Dew point sub-60. Wind WNW 5-15 MPH.
THURSDAY: Smoke / haze thins. Partly cloudy. A late-day t-storm possible southern NH / eastern MA. Highs 82-89. Dew point sub-60. Wind W 5-15 MPH, higher gusts.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Clearing. Lows 60-67. Dew point 50s. Wind NW 5-15 MPH.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 80-87, except 75-82 some coastal areas of eastern MA / Cape Cod. Dew point 50s. Wind N to NE 5-15 MPH.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear to partly cloudy. Lows 60-67. Dew point 50s. Wind NE to E up to 10 MPH.
SATURDAY: Clouds increase. Chance of a shower. Highs 78-85. Dew point near 60. Wind E to SE up to 10 MPH.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Lots of clouds. Chance of a shower. Lows 61-68. Dew point near 60. Wind SE to S 5-15 MPH.
SUNDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of a thunderstorm. Highs 80-87. Dew point 60+. Wind S to SW 5-15 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (JULY 20-24)
Shower / t-storm chances greatest July 21, 23, 24. Overall pattern mainly dry. Temperatures near to above normal.
DAYS 11-15 (JULY 25-29)
Shower / t-storm chances greatest mid period. Still mainly dry overall. Temperatures near normal but somewhat variable.
Good morning and ty tk. Wordle in three. (Which will be a miracle to all those who try to get the word today. It is a DOOZY. The whole wordle community is on fire about todays word lol)
Ugh these wildfire plumes are bonkers. The air quality index has taken a bad uptick this morning. It is in the 120s or higher in a lot of Mass now. It wasn’t that bad yesterday.
Holy crap.
Great job. I AM hopelessly lost after 3 guesses. I can’t make heads or tails out of this one. Destined to fail for sure.
That’s a great score for today. I got it in 4.
Amazing 3 and 4, wow !!!!! Superbly done !
And then some!!1 I don’t know how they did it!!!!!
Amazing!!!
Great work!
I got it in 5, but ran out of vowels after 3rd try. Definitely a tough word.
Well done !!
Good morning TK
82/70. This morning
Ocean: 67
Wordle: working on it. Had to take a break.
Just barely touched 90 here yesterday. Highest observed was 89.9.
It is really Yuck city this morning!!!!!
Photo last evening before sunset
https://ibb.co/k61NdYmD
Nice !
Wordle: big fat FAIL. Didn’t have a clue and had no chance at this one!!!!
Thanks TK !
Wordle: 6 and on the last guess it’s only because I kept throwing in letters I hadn’t used, not because I knew what the word was.
I tried that and STILL could no get it!!! You got it!!!! Nice
https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES19/ABI/SECTOR/ne/GEOCOLOR/20261961201_GOES19-ABI-ne-GEOCOLOR-2400×2400.jpg
That made me want to VOMIT!!!!!!! The sickest looking satellite shot I have ever seen!!!!!
Thanks Tk
Still 82/70 here.
The drier air seems a ways off.
WPC surface map as of 6:10 AM this morning
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/90fwbg.gif
Hopefully it has made some good progress in 3 hours.
As of 8AM. Burlington, VT has a NW wind with dew point still 66.
It’s not an instant drop. Gradual reduction.
It’s the Thursday front that really delivers.
Oh I understand that. Just disappointed the actual front is still a good ways N&W of here.
Here is a current dew point map where I drew a blue line marking where the Dew point begins to dry out.
https://ibb.co/Xxbn1fFc
It’s probably the power of suggestion, since I heard many Mets last night suggesting some smoke would make it to lower altitudes today.
With that said, it does look a bit hazier today, looking horizontally into the distance.
It is NOT power of suggestion as it is reflected in the current air quality index.
Currently at 134 for Boston which is quite UNHEALTHY!!!!!
https://www.iqair.com/air-quality/usa/massachusetts/boston
NWS has issued an AIR QUALITY ALERT
https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=BOX&wwa=air%20quality%20alert
https://www.weather.gov/box/
Thanks JpDave !
Thanks TK
It looks like that wildfire smoke prevented a higher end severe weather event for northern New England yesterday.
Agreed and exactly what I thought might happen yesterday.
80 in pembroke under full cloud cover / or smoke cover
CAT 5 destined to cross the BM! Don’t believe me then check out social media in a day or two.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=7
On a little more serious note:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=epac&fdays=7
Would love to see pone of those social media posts. 🙂
Thanks
Closest drop in dew point appears to be Concord, NH, so still some 70 or so miles to go.
Concord, NH dp 64
Manchester, NH dp 70
Looks like the zombie apocalypse outside…
Wordle 5, anyone who got this in 3 or 4 did awesome!
Anyone who got the word did an AWESOME job and that EXCLUDES me,the only one NOTto get it I wasn’t going to get that word if I had 100 guesses!!!!)@)#*(!@*#(*!@(#(!)@
Perhaps it is. 🙂
Agree. It is a very familiar word. But an odd one.
Wordle 5
Great 5’s !!
Thank you. The word popped into my head when driving to dr this morning
If there was a solar eclipse, this smoke would make near perfect for viewing without special glasses.
This smoke scene makes it feel like quite a strange week. It now smells of smoke in Dartmouth,.
Same here in Andover, just stepped outside and I can smell it for the first time
Funny you should say that. A little burst of wind came in my window and I could smell it in the house!!!!!
Thanks, TK!
83/71 under jaundiced skies! 🙂
Sanford Townsend Band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCWVuCCWqzQ
Some pictures of the smoke from BDL and Hartford
https://x.com/ryanhanrahan/status/2077392084349116593
Here is one from East Hartford
https://x.com/Opitoc/status/2077397823859937777
Wow. Thanks JimmyJames
Air Quality Alert is in place until at least midnight. Not sure if it will be extended.
I think this will be extended for at least another day. The sun is dim outside where I am. I could smell a bit of smoke.
Smoke forecast from Ryan Hanrahan
https://x.com/ryanhanrahan/status/2077405450312491427
Disgusting!!!!
83/72 here. Not hot, but that Dew point is horrific!!!!
Disgusting just about says it all. Tough next couple days for people with breathing issues.
It’s pretty tough on my wife, for sure.
I’m dealing with it, but NOT liking it one bit!!!!
We need that dry air to get in there. For later today it will just sort of slowly ooze in here.
Very dark here now. Looks like it’s ready to pour.
Bedford dew point down to 66. Perhaps it’s getting closer.
Dew point here has dropped from 72 to 68. That is a good start for sure. Now how fast will it continue????
58 dew point in Plymouth, NH
Thanks TK.
Warm, humid and dark here in Hartford with the thick smell of smoke in the air. I work in the Gold Building in downtown Hartford (building in the left of the photo that Ryan Hanrahan posted above and JJ linked….
https://x.com/ryanhanrahan/status/2077392084349116593
Driving over the Founders Bridge (in the forefront of the photo) around 10AM this AM, it was so dark that the street and walkway lights never turned off.
82/67 down another degree. Keep it coming!!!
The House, with bi-partisan support, passed the “Sunshine Protection Act” that would make daylight savings time permanent and the vote wasn’t even close (308-117). It will next go to the Senate and if approved, the law would go into effect in 2027 meaning this Fall would be the last time we would turn the clocks back. Looks like this actually has a good shot at passing this time around.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/daylight-saving-time-become-permanent-113443159.html
For us, this would mean later sunsets in the winter but also later sunrises in the AM (as late as 8:15AM in December and January)
Not sure I would like this. I kind of like it just the way it is.
Still needs the senates blessing which will be harder I heard .
It is not a guarantee by any means though I believe it has bi-partisan support there too, and the Senate actually passed a version of the same bill in 2023 before it stalled. It could still get hung up for several reasons, especially if the Senate proposes changes to it and it goes back to the House. Critics are going to be hitting on the safety implications of people commuting and going to school in the dark in the AM. Sun would rise as late as 8:30 even in Atlanta, and 8:40 in Seattle.
The latest sunrises would be after 9:30 AM at some locations in the continental US, such as Marquette on Michigan’s UP.
82/66 here.
Thank you TK!
Wordle: 5 and agree that it was an odd one and congrats to all who solved it. I suspect there will be a lot of fails in the wordle world today.
But only 1 fail here!
Very nice Sue!
Thank you, TK.
Time to check the sky’s liver.
I think the sky has cirrhosis!!!
🙂 🙂
82/65 drier air is oozing its way in here.
59 dew point as close as Jaffrey, NH
Come on down!!!!!
Love the icon/picture of the current conditions in Boston on the NWS website right now. Never seen that one before!
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-71.058&lat=42.339
Things have gotten even worse here since earlier in the day. Airport is reporting a visibility of 5 miles but that is a stretch. I can barely see across the river from my office in Downtown Hartford.
It was previously showing “Smoke” and the picture icon next to it was an erupting volcano. Now just says overcast.
It was grey and brighter here an hourish ago but some yellow seems to be returning
Thanks TK. 80/59
That’s 69.
81F / 65F
Can’t see the temp getting much higher, maybe one degree.
Like Philip observed around noon, it got really dark here at 12:30 and very funky looking. The same sky is occurring now.
The second World Cup semi-final, Argentina v. England, is on in less than an hour.
The volcano icon made me laugh. Good thing I hadn’t just taken a sip of my Honey Dew strawberry lemonade refresher!
So this batch if fires was lightning-triggered, i.e. natural.
Natural fires account for only about 20% of wildfires in N America, however they burn about 90% of acreage consumed by wildfires.
It seems like an odd stat, but here’s how it makes sense:
Many human-started fires (accidental or on purpose) are started in areas with easy access for fire fighting. Many lightning-triggered fires are in remote area very hard to reach. This is a statistic I have known about since I became a meteorologist and it’s basically been the same all along.
Natural wildfires actually serve a purpose, in general. Yes, sometimes things in their path are destroyed. That can be unavoidable. However, the fires themselves are part of a long term natural process. The smoke they produce is part of the process. That said, there are some interesting practices, or lack thereof, in Canada, regarding forestry, so the fires that occur there as frequently as they do could be somewhat avoided, or reduced anyway.
If you real historical weather documents, you read of many “brown days” and “yellow days”, and things described similarly. What do you suppose they were referring to in those accounts going back to colonial times and even before that. Yes indeed. The same thing we’ve seen yesterday and today.
On a personal note, I found out today that I will need a surgical procedure to correct a progressing mitral valve prolapse. I’m not sure when this will take place yet. I will be talking to my cardiologist in the next two days. It looks as if it will be a minimally invasive procedure of repair rather than a full open heart surgical valve replacement.
More to come!
Best wishes for your surgery. My business partner has the same several years ago and was very happy he did. My older brother had valve replacement and was also happy he had.
Very best wishes for a most successful outcome.
I wish you all the best TK.
Best wishes on your surgery TK. 🙂
If you need time off the blog, don’t worry about us. Take your time recovering. We have many weather knowledgeable “non-mets”here to answer any questions or comments to keep the blog alive.
82/61