Early morning Monday showers in southern New England represented a flow of atmospheric energy caught in the jet stream winds aloft – the fast river of air, high in the sky, that steers disturbances – that is the first in a series of a few disturbances set to ripple through New England’s sky in the days ahead.
Behind those showers, ample sunshine combined with a strengthening west wind to push temperatures near 70 degrees for many by Monday midday, but a follow-up disturbance in the afternoon will build increasing clouds and yield scattered showers between midday and early evening, with a few embedded downpours and rumbles of thunder a possibility.
The showers truly will be scattered, though, with breaks of sun between them, and as the sun sinks lower in the evening sky, showers will start weakening and clearing takes hold overnight Monday night with a busy breeze continuing from the west.
Another disturbance will race through our New England sky Tuesday, but the air will simply be too dry for any showers to develop, so a blend of sun and increasing clouds is expected with high temperatures about ten degrees cooler – closer to 60 than 70.
Not only will the air be dry enough to preclude showers Tuesday, but likely Wednesday, as well, which looks like a very similar day to Tuesday.
Nonetheless, with a busy jet stream wind nearby, it won’t be long before the chance of showers rises again by Wednesday night into Thursday, as a larger change prepares to unfold in the atmosphere.
Cold air near the North Pole is set to dislodge over the next couple of days, and that cold air will migrate south across Hudson Bay in Canada at midweek, arriving to the Northeast Friday into Saturday.
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Exactly how the arrival of this chilly air plays out is still to be determined – that is, some rain showers are likely, but snow showers are a strong possibility, too, especially in northern New England, and we’ll watch to see just how organized these become.
What we are sure of, however, is the air that arrives for the start of the weekend is much colder than normal, likely to hold daily high temperatures in the 40s north and lower 50s south, but more importantly, setting the stage for frost, particularly by Saturday night, deep into southern New England, including the suburbs of Boston, Providence and Hartford.
So…folks who have planted will need to protect and folks thinking of planting may want to wait until this shot of cold air has passed.
Mother’s Day has been in our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast for the last several days and continues to look fair and cool coming off that Saturday night frost, with temperatures likely to moderate slowly heading into the start of next week.
