Although not the case for all of New England, the vast majority of the six-state region is seeing a break in the humidity arriving gradually over the course of the day Wednesday that will last into Thursday.
Dew point temperature is our measure of the amount of moisture in the air, and dew points in the 70s lately have equated to a downright tropical air – but the passage of a weak cold front Tuesday evening sparked showers and thunderstorms and marked the leading edge to a large bubble of drier air moving into New England from Southern Canada.
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The result is a decrease in humidity for most, a decrease in wildfire smoke and a decrease in haze over the day, though all three of those things will remain in place near the South Coast and on the Cape and Islands, where the new air simply doesn’t have enough push to make more than a small difference.
Nonetheless, the presence of less humid air also means a decreased storm chance regionwide, with those communities in far Southern New England that are holding onto the humidity also holding onto the greatest chance for a Wednesday afternoon or evening shower or thunderstorm.
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Accordingly, the drop in humidity will make for a more comfortable sleeping night for nearly all of New England except the South Coast, with widespread low temperatures either side of 60 and closer to 50 by dawn Thursday in parts of Northern New England!
The decreased humidity will continue into Thursday – again, with the exception of those near the South Coast – with a continued suppression of thunderstorm potential, though a slow return of humidity aloft will pose the risk for an isolated afternoon or evening thunderstorm in Southern New England.
It’s worth noting our ocean water temperatures, after reaching the upper 60s for many, have dropped a few to several degrees at east-facing beaches. This is largely the result of a gentle offshore wind the last few days blowing the mildest water out to sea, being replaced by cooler water from deeper water – the return of an onshore wind Thursday and Friday will help to blow some of that milder water back to our beaches.
Weather
Otherwise, we wait until Friday for the return of deep humidity, heralded in Friday morning by a few showers as a south-southeast wind sets up, and followed by erupting showers, downpours and thunderstorms from the north and west toward the south and east.
Timing of the storms is still TBD, but as of right now it looks likely Northern New England will transition in and out of showers or storms for much of the day, while Southern New England may wait until much later in the day, especially the farther southeast one is.
Friday’s storms will fire ahead of a cold front that will take humidity down a bit and decrease storm potential Saturday, though a few afternoon or evening storms are possible as a second cold front arrives late Saturday, opening the door to a slug of less humid air Sunday and Monday that will likely provide a storm-free couple of days with relatively comfortable air.
Eventually, the big heat impacting so much of the nation will make a push north and east, and you can see the arrival of that heat with high temperatures around and over 90 degrees by the end of next week.
