We measured close to three inches of rain in West Boothbay, Maine, last night and this morning. That's the best weather news in a long time, as Maine has had a serious drought this summer.
The front also brought scattered thunder to southern New England with the coast of Connecticut to Nantucket now registering more than an inch of rain the last few days. And we are not quite done yet.
In northern New England, scattered showers and thunder continue bubbling up this afternoon, particularly in Maine and in the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. All of this is driven by cold air and atmospheric energy aloft, with enough cold air at cloud level that some storms even contain hailstones and gusty winds. Showers and storms end with the setting sun with a great stretch of weather sets in.
Mild daytime high temperatures and cool overnight low temperatures come as a sprawling area of high pressure – fair weather – builds over the northeast United States, moving slowly and not cresting over New England as it moves slowly west to east until Thursday night.
When fair weather centers move overhead, the wind often becomes quite light and that's expected Wednesday and Thursday nights. Combined with a clear sky and light wind, we'll find overnight valley fog and fog developing near water bodies of interior New England, burning off in the first few hours each morning, and deeper valleys of the North Country are likely to dip into the 30s!
Farther south, 30s aren't as likely, but several sub-50 degree readings are likely on both Thursday and Friday mornings. While dry air cools quickly at night, it also warms quickly with sunshine, which is why our First Alert weather team still expects high temperatures to rise to around 80 degrees both Wednesday and Thursday, and into the 80s Friday.
A southerly wind flow develops Friday into Saturday, bringing mid-summer warmth back to New England with an increase in humidity we'll feel Saturday as high temperatures near 90 degrees, then more humidity with scattered thunderstorms returning to the forecast Sunday.
Although the cool nights bring notions of fall, the 10-day definitely looks more like summer than autumn, with daytime highs still around or over 80 degrees for most of us next week.
