The Week Ahead

8:55 PM

Let’s be realistic. It’s not going to be a stellar week ahead. While it is true there will be some warm temperatures early in the week, keep in mind it is just April, the ocean nearby is cold, and ’tis the season for cut-off low pressure systems. The latter will likely come into play after our warmer start to the week.

For those interested in what’s causing the weather…

A warm front will very slowly push across New England through Monday. Energy moving southeastward on the eastern side of a high pressure ridge (which brought warm to hot weather to the middle of the US the past few days) and warm air overriding the relatively cooler air over us will result in showers and thunderstorms tonight into Monday. As the warm front edges northeastward, these showers and storms will taper from southwest to northeast. Temperatures will never reach the 80s Monday, but will remain in the 60s near the coast while reaching the 70s inland as southwest winds increase. The immediate shore will be coolest as winds will take the longest to shift to south there. The South Coast of New England will remain in the 50s as the wind will be more directly off the water. Those areas may see low clouds and areas of fog much of the day Monday.

Low pressure passing well north of New England will drag a cold front and a couple low pressure troughs through the region Tuesday. Winds will shift to west then eventually north and these disturbances will be accompanied by scattered showers. Temperatures will remain mild on Tuesday.

Winds are expected to shift more to the northeast as low pressure develops along the cold front, as it slows down while moving offshore, Tuesday night & Wednesday. Although I am not sure of precise timing, I do expect this low pressure system to become cut off from the jet stream, meandering northward into New England later Wednesday and Thursday. This will bring unsettled weather and cooler temperatures. This is in disagreement with some of the fair weather midweek forecasts you may have heard, but this is how I feel it will play out right now.

This system should lift out of the region by Friday, but will make way for yet another low pressure system to bring additional unsettled weather sometime during next weekend. That’s Spring in New England.

For those who just want to know what it’s gonna do around Boston…

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy. More humid. Showers and a chance of thunderstorms, most numerous after midnight. Any thunderstorms could produce downpours as well as frequent lightning. Low 45 to 50. Wind SE to S 5 to 15 mph.

MONDAY: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely in the morning. Partly sunny with isolated showers in the afternoon. Highs ranging from near 60 along the immediate coast to near 75 well  inland. Wind S to SW increasing to 15 to 25 mph with gusts around 30 mph.

MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 55 to 60. Wind SW 10 to 20 mph with higher gusts.

TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy. Scattered showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms. High 65 to 70. Wind W 10 to 20 mph and gusty, shifting to N.

TUESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Low 42 to 47. Wind N 10 to 20 mph with higher gusts.

WEDNESDAY: Mostly cloudy. High 45 to 50 coast, 50 to 55 inland. Wind NE 10 to 20 mph.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. Chance of rain. Low 42 to 47. Wind E 10 to 20 mph.

THURSDAY: Cloudy. Chance of rain. High 47 to 52. Wind NE to N 10 to 20 mph.

FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy. Low 44. High 55.

SATURDAY: Chance of showers. Low 42. High 54.

SUNDAY: Chance of rain. Low near 43. High near 51.

30 thoughts on “The Week Ahead”

  1. Thanks for the update TK. Busy night of weather for parts of the midwest. Thankfully it doesn’t look like any severe storms here due to that wind coming off those cool ocean waters and the SPC seems to be thinking the same thing with the slight risk area just to the west of New England which tells me the storms will weaken once they get into New England.

    1. They should weaken, but I always leave the door open for a storm with heavy rain and frequent lightning when we are on the eastern side of a ridge with a warm front in the area at night. Nocturnal storms associated with warm fronts can pull some big surprises, history will show.

    1. Back in the late 1980s we had a series of them that always seemed to come in late May or early June. One of these events was a line that ran from southern NH southeastward to the North Shore, training over the same area as the cells moved to the SE along a boundary. My friend and I were on a big hill in Woburn with very few trees and got about an hour of great lightning video.

  2. Bah humbug to the forecast. I have been in vacation mode but now it’s time for reality. Got to love April in NE:-)

    1. I realize I’m way more pessemistic than NWS right now, but I’m following the Euro at the moment.

  3. Your not the only one TK. Joe Joyce just updated his evening thoughts and you are both on the same page!

  4. Off topic post…Sox beat Yankees 4-0 and win the series! Beckett was fantastic for a change. I guess next up with Tampa Bay and a battle for “last” place. As for the Bruins and Celts…who knows??

    Our three teams can either make names for themselves….or be the laughing stock of the spring. Let’s see what happens. Looks like a lousy week “wx wise”. 🙁

    1. I’ve got a bad feeling about the weather, but a good feeling about all 3 teams. Wish so many media outlets didn’t go for record heat so far in advance. Disappointing and it gives forecasters overall a bad name. Ah well…

  5. Some amazing early AM temps……Buffalo, NY and Cleveland, OH 70F or better at this hour and if I recall correctly, MT Washington is 39F. If that sun ever breaks out and the wind attains a little more of a westerly component, as opposed to due south………. Have a good day everyone !!

  6. Thanks, TK for the update. I am going to try to enjoy the “almost summerlike” weather today – as the rest of the wk. looks to be more typical spring weather for New England. I enjoyed the day yesterday – but there was still a slight chill in the air. Today it is more humid so it feels warmer(and will actually get warmer than yesterday). I watched the storms out in the Midwest develop on the dopplar radar. Amazing how some of them would just pop up so fast. I’ve seen that happen around here a lot, too. I particularly remember the summer of 2008 – from May – Sept. we were sometimes having thunderstorms 4 – 5 days a week! Hope everyone has a great day.

  7. Love it when spring fianally breaks through with more milder days than cold.

    Last snow patch went in my yard overnight.

  8. More thunderstorms will fire today with that cold front and there will be severe weather however due to the wind off the water which as we know is chilly I expected those storms that fire in NY and PA to weaken on their approach to SNE which is why I am only giving a 1 for the chance of thunderstorms today and nothing higher than that.

  9. I also remember some strong storms in the late 80s. Wasn’t it during the summer of 1988 that we had the unusually long stretch of summer heat? I believe it was that summer we had an unusually strong thunderstorm in Framingham. My daughter and I tried without success to keep the winds from blowing everything around our porch. Other than during a hurricane, that hasn’t happened in all the years we lived here. My son was in Belmont with my parents and when I went to get him I was surprised at all of the tree limbs and entire trees that were down.

  10. Thanks Vicki!! Yes it was fantastic. Weather was perfect except for 1/2 day. Little humidity as well which was nice.

    1. Wow – when you can go on vacation and say only a half a day was less than perfect it doesn’t get better than that. Glad to hear it was what you had hoped for!

  11. Temp is 67 degrees in N.Attleboro, I don’t c much in the way of severe tstorms coming through in the early am, I’m thinking a rumble of thunder is possible but other than that a downpour is possible,, on a side note that sun is warm,, wow!!! From looking at all the info that I have the week ahead looks close to seasonable with temps in the mid 50’s, on the coast it will be cooler in the 40’s, I don’t waste much time I’ve opened the pool already, just gotta put some chemical in it this weekend, it’s full of clean water, my 2 temp gauges, 1 says the water temp is a balmy 48, the other says 46, so I’ll go with a water temp of 47:) have a good day everyone

  12. Charlie I don’t see any severe weather for SNE either. The wind direction coming in from off the ocean will help to stablize the atmosphere. As storm form in PA and NY they should weaken on their approach to SNE.

  13. It was 76 in Framingham but could have gone a degree or two higher as I was out in the later part of the afternoon. Just came in from the deck. Where are all these mosquitoes coming from???

  14. I was just remembering that when I was young my dad would tell me that Memorial Day weekend was considered Massachusetts Weekend to ski at Tuckermans . I probably said this before but it’s a fond memory so I repeat. He skied Tuckermans and the head wall when they were still using barrel slats for skis. He skied with Toni Matt and was standing beside Matt in 1939 when he made his run straight down. My dad met him at the bottom and said he’d seen him catch an edge. It wasn’t until years later that Matt admitted that he had indeed not intended to go straight but had caught an edge.

    Sorry for going down memory lane but I saw a forecast for snow in the presidential range and it brought back memories!!!

  15. Hi all. Sorry for the lack of replies & update. Computer issues today. Using a backup laptop! Obviously I’m pushing the rain event more into Wed than Thu, just have not been able to tell you! I’ll get an update done shortly…

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