Another day of cool spring temperatures is accompanied by lots of clouds and occasional showers Thursday. The most frequent showers will be in Western New England, with Central to Eastern areas finding much more time spent dry than wet Thursday, but some sprinkles and showers passing through from time to time.
With an onshore wind, it’s likely temperatures will struggle to surpass 50 degrees Thursday afternoon near the coast, while the interior only rises a few degrees above the 50 mark. Steadier and heavier rain positioned west of New England will nudge east overnight as a sprawling upper level storm – responsible for the rounds of atmospheric energy touching off the rain – starts to meander east.
The slow motion of the system will mean it takes all weekend to completely pass New England, which will keep an elevated chance of showers in the forecast, though it certainly won’t rain non-stop. One example of a delightful break in showers and clouds comes Friday late morning onward, when early downpours give way to sunshine that will boost temperatures into the 60s Friday afternoon, and though that may lead to some puffy cumulus clouds dropping a few new scattered showers later in the day, there are unlikely to be too many complaints after the recent stretch of cool weather.
As the upper level disturbance moving over New England this weekend arrives, it not only carries a pool of cold air high in the sky but also brings slowly cooling air at ground level, too, so temperatures won’t be as warm Saturday as Friday and will take another step down Sunday. That said, the gradually cooler air is also gradually drier air, so while scattered showers should start popping up as soon as mid-morning Saturday and last off and on through the remainder of the day, Sunday probably will stay dry for most until the afternoon, when the chance of showers is only 20-30% for most communities.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
The drying trend continues into the start of next week, but the cooling trend will reverse, with a gentle southwest wind probably not sufficient to entirely shake afternoon sea breezes, but most inland communities with a chance to rise near or above 70 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. As has been the case in recent weeks, the chance of showers will increase in the second half of the week with another slow, large storm over the Great Lakes, but this one looks to chug steadily northeast into Canada, making way for fair weather to return in time for Easter Sunday.
