9:46AM
First, this weekend. It’s a transition weekend, going from a mild Saturday feeling like September to a chilly Sunday feeling like November. But that’s how we come up with averages, and October is a fickle month often combining warmth of Summer-just-ended with first hints of Winter-to-come. We’ll get that this weekend. A few showers will be around today, especially later afternoon, as a cold front approaches. Ahead of it, a gusty southwest breeze will help maintain the last of the mild air for a while. Once the front goes by tonight, the chilly air will flow in as the wind shifts to northwest. This will continue on Sunday which will be a much cooler day. There may be a few instability showers that pop up on Sunday but it will be a mainly dry day. At night, high pressure moves overhead, the sky clears out, and the temperature drops. Frost may be forming in many areas outside urban centers and away from the immediate shore.
Next week (Monday-Friday): Enjoy a bright and cool October day Monday because that will likely be the only time you see the sun for the remainder of this 5-day period (unless we luck out later Friday). As a small high pressure area delivers the nice weather Monday, low pressure will be dropping through the Great Lakes and heading for the northern Mid Atlantic. It will then evolve into a new storm system trapped under an upper level low pressure area that sits and spins for 4 days, starting Tuesday, bringing unsettled and chilly weather to southeastern New England. It’s hard to say at this point how much rain will fall in total during this period, but there is the potential for some significant amounts, which will be good in that it will continue to alleviate the deficit, but could also lead to some flooding issues should it persist heavily enough. We’ll also have to be on the lookout for coastal flooding due to onshore wind over a prolonged period of time and higher astronomical tides around the New Moon (next Thursday).
Late October: It’s not often I offer any detail beyond my normal 7-day forecasting period, but today a little look into what may transpire as we go through the last weekend and work week of October (Saturday October 25 through Friday October 31). Behind the departing prolonged storm should come a windy and colder weekend. There are hints that it may even be cold enough around October 26 for the first snowflakes to fall in some areas, including the Boston area. Not a snowstorm, but rain and snow showers due to cold air moving in while it is also unstable. Following this, a significant warm-up may take place as we head toward Halloween.
SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND FORECAST…
TODAY: Partly sunny. Scattered rain showers. Remote risk of thunder. Highs from the middle 60s to lower 70s. Wind SW 10-20 MPH with higher gusts.
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with scattered rain showers early then partly cloudy. Lows in the 40s. Wind shifting to NW 10-20 MPH with higher gusts.
SUNDAY: Variably cloudy, clouds most dominant midday, sun increasing later. Isolated rain showers possible mainly inland higher elevations. Highs upper 40s interior hills to 50-55 elsewhere. Wind NW 15-25 MPH.
MONDAY: Sunny. Low 34. High 55.
TUESDAY: Cloudy. Late rain. Low 42. High 52.
WEDNESDAY: Cloudy. Periods of rain. Windy. Low 42. High 49.
THURSDAY: Cloudy. Periods of rain. Windy. Low 43. High 48.
FRIDAY: Cloudy. Lingering rain. Windy. Low 44. High 54.