Weather

First Alert: Strong Winds Friday Could Bring Power Outages

Winds are expected to exceed 30 mph, with gusts close to 50 mph projected in some areas

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Thursday is a decent afternoon in New England, with highs in the upper 50s, and a few lucky spots reaching 60s.

Cloud coverage has increased, and we'll be watching warmer temperatures coming Friday, along with widespread showers with embedded downpours, thunder and strong wind gusts.

We'll keep a First Alert in place, considering our wind speeds will begin to pick up Thursday night. They'll be exceeding 30 mph while potentially dangerous wind gusts close to 50 mph will be expected in the southeast Friday afternoon. This includes Cape Cod, Nantucket and higher elevations. Worcester, for example, will be tracking over 40 mph wind gusts at times.

Either way, you might want to take holiday decorations, like inflatables, inside for the time being. Some power loss can also be expected with the strong winds. If you're working from home or have any important electronic devices, make sure to keep them charged before the high winds kick in.

Total rainfall amounts are expected to remain below 1.5 inches. This means that widespread flooding is not a high concern, except for the usual flood-prone sites in low lying roads.

On our shores, we'll be having an increase in wave heights by the 45 mph wind gusts. This will bring choppy shores, waves of up to 7 feet high and moderate risk of rip currents.

Showers will be exiting Friday evening, leaving us with a nice stretch of dry weather from Friday night through early Saturday afternoon, but a second round of precipitation will roll in Saturday evening and exit in the overnight hours. Sunday will be the pick of the weekend, as we'll wrap up the weekend with dry conditions.

We'll be starting next week with highs in the upper 40s, lows dipping into the 20s and possibly the teens in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Wintry precipitation is also expected in the mountains Saturday night, and Monday. Snowfall amounts could be adding up to range between 1-2 inches before tracking additional snow showers next Tuesday.

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