Wind damage and outages have become more widespread as gusts from the west are as high as 50-70 mph (including one Pittsfield, Massachusetts, gust of 67 mph) and the sustained winds are around 30 mph.
Why is it so windy? The pressure gradient force. A departing low pressure system is to our northeast (producing heavy snow in northeastern Maine) and high pressure is to our southwest.
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The wind is amplified and funneled across New England form the northwest and west. This is due to air flowing from high pressure to low pressure -- the bigger the difference the stronger the winds.
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Friday night, the winds will subside after sunset and will no longer be as damaging, before ramping up to around 40-45 mph for Saturday afternoon.
The nuisance wind means the wind chill has returned. Friday, it feels like the 30s at best with the sun, 20s Friday night into Saturday morning. And a passing flurry is possible, as some lake effect snow blows across western and southern New England.
The weekend will be colder, but actually seasonable, as our normal highs are in the low to mid 40s. That’s exactly what we get both Saturday and Sunday.
Daylight saving time also begins Sunday morning, so it’s time to change your smoke detector, weather radio, and carbon monoxide batteries. Sunday brings us less wind and temps in the mid 40s, with a sunrise at 7:05 and sunset at 6:44 in Boston.
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Temps slowly rebound to the 50s on Monday to around 60 by midweek as we get a south wind and a shift in the jet stream. There will be minimal rain chances next week too, with only a couple showers Monday, and again on Thursday.
