Weather

New England Slammed by Downpours, Gusts, Thunder

The warmth Thursday morning has been downright stunning for most of New England, with "feels like" temperatures recovering from 20 to 30 degrees below zero.

Temperatures are even in the 50s Thursday – that’s a rebound of about 60 to 80 degrees on how the air feels to our bodies, with Worcester leading the way. There, they're feeling some 84 degrees warmer than it did Monday!

The incredible surge of warmth is accompanied by a tropical tap to Gulf of Mexico moisture. This ramps up rain for embedded downpours and rumbles of thunder dropping on 1-to-2-inches of rain on New England and cranking southerly winds to gusts in excess of 60 mph in Southeast New England.

The heavy rain will result in 1-to-2-inches of rain for big puddles. Some street flooding, snowmelt and runoff over frozen ground will make for some wet basements and healthy rises in streams and small rivers that may nudge above their banks.

Meanwhile, the gusty south wind will produce some scattered power outages, particularly in Southeast New England and especially when those winds are focused by downpours and potential thunderstorms late Thursday afternoon.

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Colder air ends rain as 1-to-3-inches of snow in the northern and western mountains, with higher amounts in the highest terrain. While that cold air should leave some overnight patches of black ice, a flash freeze is not expected.

Friday will deliver cool air, building clouds after morning sun and some afternoon flurries and snow showers, with cool and relatively dry air Saturday. Saturday night into Sunday may bring some snow showers before a more organized storm of snow and rain is quite possible on Tuesday in our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast – we’ll keep you posted.

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