If you have been outside at all today, you certainly noticed how windy it has been all day. In the past few hours, those wind gusts have increases in intensity, with several locations in Eastern MA reporting gusts in the range of 45-55 mph. Powerful enough to knock down some trees and power lines. Reports of power outages in eastern NY and western CT have been on the rise all afternoon.
All of this wind is in advance of a strong cold front that has extended from a parent Low pressure system over the Great Lakes. This Low will continue to grow stronger overnight, aided by a convergence of the Northern and Southern jet streams, feeding tropical moisture into our region. This same "phasing" of jet steams is what gives us big snowstorms in the winter!
But alas, no snow with this one. Here are the highlights.
- Strong winds and wind gusts continue into the morning. Scattered power outages and moderate wind damage is expected with gusts upwards of 50-60 mph.
- Severe thunderstorms are also a possibility. Main treats with these include damaging straight line winds. Just above the surface, there is some REALLY strong wind gusts. Some of these gusts could get mixed down to the surface as heavy rainfall develops over the next few hours.
- Rain. And lots of it. This front is loaded with moisture and will drop a good 1.5-2.5 inches of rainfall over Eastern MA in the next 8 hours. This will lead to some urban flooding. Heavy rain hits Boston between 11-midnight. This is also the best time frame for any severe weather.
- Luckily, this front is a fast mover. Earlier indications showed the front becoming stalled out near Cape Cod on Wednesday, wedged between the Low in the Great Lakes and the High over the Atlantic. But that does not appear to be the case anymore. Tomorrow morning will feature some left over showers and will still be breezy. Although nowhere close to the wind gusts we will see tonight. From there, gradual clearing is expected and maybe even some peaks of sunshine before the day is all done!
Keep an eye on the news for any severe thunderstorm warnings over the next few hours and bring all lawn furniture and other light objects in before the rain hits!
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