Trifecta Or Hat-Trick
Today was the first of three splendid days and I rate it a perfect 10. The next two days will be just as spectacular so it is tough to pick which days will finish first, second and third in this weather trifecta. I'll choose Saturday to be the winner only because more people have that day off to enjoy the weather to the max.
Boston's temperature reached 82 degrees at 3:48pm today. I predict a duplicate or possibly one degree lower tomorrow after starting at 65 in the city at 7am while most of the suburbs will have cooled off to the 50s. The usual lowland locations may briefly dip to about 48 near or just after the crack of dawn. You may need to reach for a thin blanket or two! With plentiful sunshine and some eventual scattered decorative clouds tomorrow, the air will remain refreshingly dry and the westerly breeze will not surpass 15 mph. After a carbon copy tomorrow night, it will become a bit warmer on Saturday with highs in the middle 80s except along the coast where the beaches will be cooler in the middle to upper 70s with a southeasterly breeze. Some streamers and filaments of high clouds will appear through the day but the sun should be shining through most of the time. High tides will occur at 11am tomorrow and closer to noon on Saturday. It should be a great boating and mountain-climbing day.
After that, gradual changes will unfold with an approaching amplifying trough of low pressure. It will deepen and sharpen and capture abundant tropical moisture from the south. Consequently, with robust support, surface development is a certainty. A projected track from Delmarva to Long Island seems reasonable and a decent air pressure gradient will result in a brisk wind in the range of 15-35 mph from the east-southeast. A revision from yesterday's thinking is that the rain will be delayed by a few hours and that is a good thing for most folks. That will please many of the participants and spectators of the Falmouth Road Race. In fact, there could be some sunshine at times over eastern sections and especially Cape Cod into the early afternoon. The wind and rain shield will roll into western New England just after midday with a slow translation eastward toward the coastal plain as the rest of the day progresses. I am not expecting any steady rain in the Boston area before 5pm. Parameters in place suggest another slug of at least 1-2 inches of rain many areas. Most of the heaviest rain will fall Sunday night through Monday morning. Thereafter, as the storm meanders and weakens over the region, occasional to periodic light rain and mist will probably linger into Tuesday. After Monday's highs in the upper 60s, the temperatures may only rise a few degrees into the lower 70s on Tuesday unless it really dries out much sooner than I am forecasting. As the system shifts eastward, improvement is in store for next Wednesday with some returning sunshine warming it back to near 80. There are still no signs of any intense heat striking the Northeast in the next 1-2 weeks.
The annual Perseid Meteor Shower is happening now through this weekend with the peak of this celestial event occurring around 2am Saturday. It is usually productive with up to 60-90 meteors visible per hour under optimum conditions. While the weather will be cooperative this year, the sky will be illuminated by the Full Grain Moon or Sturgeon Moon or Green Corn Moon or Thunder Moon, etc. Consequently, many of the faint shooting stars will be washed out. Nevertheless, it is worth getting away from city lights and out in the country or out on a beach to check it out.
In closing, I will mention that there are two tropical waves way out closer to Africa that have become better organized today. Conditions are favorable for strengthening of both systems into tropical cyclones over the next 2-3 days. The next 2 names on the 2011 list are Franklin and Gert. For more information, logon to the National Hurricane Center. Also, of interest, it has been 41 days since the temperature has failed to reach at least 100 degrees in Dallas. Today, the max was 97. The record number of consecutive days at 100 degrees or higher was 42 back in 1980. So after all that relentless horrendous heat this summer, it looks like the old record stands!
Melissa Mack delivers her latest AccuWeather Forecast in the morning and I shall return later in the day for Todd Gutner.
Have a good night.
