For most of us the heat wave is over now. Tuesday was day four. A few spots in southern New England -- and away from the ocean -- may make 90 degrees to get to a five day heat wave on Wednesday.
But now our weather focus is on showers and thunderstorms as humidity returns.
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We have a boundary over southern New England with light winds coming in from the northeast and east near Boston and from the south and southwest in Connecticut. This boundary forces the air to rise, and there’s plenty of moisture and instability to generate continued rounds of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon and evening.
We are in a slight risk zone from the severe storm prediction center for damaging thunderstorms in western and central New England this afternoon and especially this evening.
We also have enough blue sky and sunshine for some marginal beach weather especially along the South Coast, where the tide is high early Wednesday afternoon and an outgoing tide for what could be a spectacular sunset -- maybe not as good as that red sunrise, but close.
The evening thunderstorm threat is greatest in areas north of Interstate 90, up to about the central Green Mountains and the White Mountains. The most vulnerable area looks to be from the Quabbin Reservoir to the Merrimack Valley.
High temperatures range from the 70s in Maine, to near 90 degrees in Connecticut and southeastern New England. The dewpoint is back to 70 degrees and higher from Connecticut to Cape Cod.
It will be marginal viewing for the comet this evening, with the best chance along the South Coast and in far northern New England.
The weather pattern changes very little over the next couple of days, with a chance of showers and strong to severe thunderstorms again on Thursday with the temperatures in the 80s to near 90 degrees. Friday we're still left with the front across the South Coast and a chance for showers and storms, with temperatures cooler in the 80s. Less humid air comes in to northern New England later Friday.
The weekend looks pretty good, with more sun and clouds and temperatures in the 80s to 90 degrees. A threat for storms returns to far northern New England Sunday afternoon and evening. And we have a new tropical storm about 1,000 miles east of the windward islands. Its name is Gonzalo. We cover it all in our First Alert 10-day forecast.
