Wednesday Equals Dry Air

Waking up this morning, it is noticeably cooler. Last night was the first time in over a week that we did not need to leave the AC on overnight, which is good for my electric bill and for my hot and furry kitten. Dew points right now are in the 40's! That is quite an air pattern change.

We have a beautiful day set up today. Temps in the upper 70's, low humidity and a slight west breeze will set up some spectacular weather. This is what the weather in heaven would feel like.

Tonight, our dry airmass and lack of cloud cover will allow temps to drop off pretty quickly. Some outlying areas could even fall into the upper 40's! Pretty cool for the last day of June.

SUNRISE: 5:10AM
SUNSET: 8:25PM
LENGTH OF DAY: 15h 14m

NORMAL HIGH TEMP: 80
RECORD HIGH TEMP: 95(1945)
YESTERDAYS HIGH TEMP: 91



Alex was officially upgraded to a hurricane overnight, albeit a weak category 1 hurricane. Expected landfall should occur sometime tomorrow afternoon in Mexico. The combination of slow forward movement over very warm Gulf waters could allow for some rapid intensification but it is doubtful that the storm will produce winds over 100 mph.

Lastly, remember to visit my website today at www.northeastweatherrants.com and enjoy the cool weather. The rest of the country is boiling!

Tuesdays Thumbnails

Welcome to Tuesday! And nearly the end of the month.

Our cold front continues to pretty much sit on top of us and because of this, scattered storms are in the forecast again. Yesterday, much of the instability and action was focused to the south of the Boston area. Massachusetts south coast and the Providence region saw some pretty strong storms pass through around dinner time. Not expecting the same strong storms today, but since we are still on the tropical and humid side of the front, there will be the threat of some isolated severe storms later in the afternoon.

Once the cold front moves through, much cooler and drier air will follow. Until then, expect temps to reach the low 90's again with dew points maxing out in the 70's. Another hot and humid day is on tap.

Take a look at the great month of weather that we have had!
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBOS/2010/6/29/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar

We have our first tropical system of the season, Tropical Storm Alex. Alex looks to make landfall right around the Texas/Mexico border as a Cat 1 hurricane.



And last but not least today, check out my new website www.northeastweatherrants.com! I will continue to write my blog, but there will be more exciting features to come on the website!! Check it out today.

Welcome to Thursday, Where Big Storms Await

Fear not. Our warm, humid air is only with us for a few more hours. Morning time cloud cover will gradually give way to hazy sunshine, causing our atmosphere to heat up and become instable! This means the potential for strong storms exists anywhere between 3 and 8 this afternoon. Expect severe thunderstorm watches to be posted sometime soon.

The strong cold front will be moving through our region fairly slowly and because of this slow movement,the Boston area and other coastal areas will have the best chance to heat up before hand. Combine that with a very strong southwesterly flow and extremely strong winds aloft and you get very strong storms to develop close to the water, which of course is unusual. The sea breeze typically cuts of development of these summer storms as they approach the coast,but that will not be the case today. The I95 corridor could actually see the worst of the storms.

As always, be aware of any warnings posted. These storms could be the strongest of the season for the Boston area. We should start seeing the squall line approach the city around 4 or 5 this afternoon. Torrential raindfall, strong wind gusts and lots of lightening should be expected.

The good news is that after this, we get a beautiful, dry day tomorrow!

I am back! And it's hot

So my apologies for being absent for so many days. A combination of the Celtics, work and laziness is to blame. On the subject of the Celtics, I was disappointed with the outcome, but proud of the effort. It was a hell of a run, but the Lakers were the better team and not by much. I am hopeful that this playoff run will convince Doc to come back (although I am fine with McCale) and enough for Ray to be resigned along with some other small parts for one more run.

As far as the weather goes, summer is now upon us as of Monday! The longest day has passed but the weather remains excellent. We really have had a wonderful stretch of weather for over a month now, nothing compared to our wet and cool June of last year.

We have yet to see some real extended summer heat. We have had some bouts with humidity and even some severe thunderstorms, but for the most part, we have avoided some of the extreme heat that can be associated with summer.

Onto today. A dry and humid airmass is making its way to us as we speak. A west, southwest flow will keep us dry and dew points will be on the rise. Expect temps to approach 90 degrees, even at the coast, with dew points boarding on uncomfortable.
No thunderstorms today as our air, at all levels of the atmosphere, is just too dry.

With that said however, there may be some storms moving through northern areas of our region overnight. Tomorrow, a low pressure system passes near the Canadian border and actually increases the southwest air flow. That means even more hot and humid conditions than today. It will be somewhat windy too.

Keep those AC's on and make sure your kittys and pups have plenty of water!!!!

Wow!

What a set of thunderstorms over the weekend. Humid conditions ahead of a stalled strong cold front caused some serious instability ( aka increased vertical lift from air particles) kept us on the severe t-storm watch and even a tornado watch all weekend. A tornado was not likely, but the storms had the capability of producing low level rotation, which in turn could produce funnel clouds and ultimately tornadoes. There were no confirmed tornadoes but there was one at least one confirmed funnel cloud over the Connecticut River in Hartford. Some highlights from the storms.

- 60 to 80!! MPH wind gust widely reported including in the Boston area.
- Many tree limbs down and even tree's uprooted.
- Reports of golf ball sized hail in Western Mass.
- Lots of lightening and one person injured when lightening struck the fire station in Malden
- Many trees fallen on cars and houses.

All in all a pretty wild weather weekend!

Happy Birthday Greg!

Today is my birthday and as a gift to you all, I give you pleasant weather with lots of sunshine and low humidity! You are welcome. And don't blame me if it happens to rain a little over the weekend.

Come celebrate my birthday in style tomorrow night at the Baseball Tavern. Just a side note, you will not be let in the door without a gift.

Instability Leads to T-Storms!

They started last night. I was woken up at about 3am as an isolated thunderstorm passed over the greater Boston area. Lots of lightening associated with it too and it is a preview of what to expect later this afternoon.



Low pressure will move into Northern New England this afternoon and bring a pretty strong cold front with it. You know the drill. Warm, humid air in front of it clashes with cooler, drier air behind it and we get some thunderstorms! The air is very wet over our heads right now so we could really see some heavy downpours once these storms get going.

The cloud cover we have this morning is actually preventing these storms from gaining too much solar energy, so they should not be too severe. Still, it should be our first seasonal look at a strong line of storms that effects most of the region. The storms should start in eastern Mass anywhere from 3-6 pm. Keep an eye on the radar to see where the heaviest cells are heading.

Once the front moves through, we get a beautiful Wednesday with dry and warm conditions. Plenty of sunshine to boot. Certainly the pick of the week. After that, we get into a somewhat extended period of instability with the shot of t-storms likely from Thursday through the weekend.

May Climate Data

[TEMPERATURE DATA]
AVERAGE MONTHLY: 62.7
DPTR FM NORMAL: 4.3
HIGHEST: 94 ON 26
LOWEST: 40 ON 11,10

[PRECIPITATION DATA]

TOTAL FOR MONTH: 2.90
DPTR FM NORMAL: -0.23


May was a pretty nice month this year. We have continued our overall dry and above normal temperature pattern since the end of March. May temps averaged a good 4 degrees above normal values! We could be in for a hot summer.