Weather

Dry weather rolls on, cold set to relax by week's end

A quick shot of rain and snow showers are expected Friday

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As high pressure – a fair weather cell – from Canada crests over New England, a Tuesday morning breeze goes quiet during the day as cool air remains anchored in the region for the time being.

The center of high pressure usually is chock full of dry air and Tuesday is no exception, with the dry air not only ensuring plentiful sunshine but also drying the body – a little bit of sneaky dehydration given the temperature isn't warm so the body doesn't recognize it, but the dry air means hydration, lip balm and skin moisturizer will all be helpful to mitigate the effects on the body.

A large ocean storm developing Tuesday night and Wednesday will stay hundreds of miles southeast of New England, but should add some wispy, high-altitude clouds to the sky that will dim the sun in Eastern New England, but certainly shouldn't drop any precipitation into the very dry air.

While the wind will stay light for most of New England, both Wednesday and Thursday should see an increase in wind over Vermont, where the Champlain Valley will find daytime gusts to 30 miles per hour both days, as western New England sits between the slowly departing high pressure cell and a weak storm center over the Ontario-Quebec Provincial line in Canada.

Eventually, a new and stronger storm center will develop out of the Ohio Valley Thursday and move directly over New England Friday.

At first, there will likely be enough lingering cold air for a push of snow into north-central and western Massachusetts points north with a coating to 2 inches, before mild air carried on an increasing southerly breeze with the incoming storm forces a change to rain showers during the day Friday as temperatures rise well into the 40s and near 50° for some.

Soon after, a cold front associated with the storm center will cross through New England by later Friday, ending the northward push of mild air and delivering another shot of cool, dry air for a fair, wintry feeling weekend.

Nonetheless, this week is the week we see historically, on average, see Boston's daily high temperature cross 40 degrees, and there is a turning point of sorts this year – once we clear the weekend, the jet stream pattern reconfigures in a way that will send exceptional warmth into New England, likely making next week more similar to the first week of April.

The warmth builds in the nation's midsection this week into the weekend, and once the jet stream's fast winds aloft start to rise northward over New England by the end of the upcoming weekend, that opens the door to temperatures in the 50s for much of next week, albeit with an elevated chance of showers.

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