Warmth is Trending

Posted by Pete Bouchard

Wow! This is December?

Although our high of 59° was 10 degrees off the record, it was still WAY above the normal of 47°. But what is it about early December warmth?

Last year: 63° on the 5th

2010: 56° on the 1st

2009: 69° on the 3rd

2008: 60° on the 1st (and 63° on the 10th)

I'm beginning to see a trend here. In fact, just like those freakish warmups around Marathon time in mid April, we may start to expect some mini-warmup in early December around here. Of course, over the course of 30 years (the normal time period where we formulate our climate normals), this data will be smoothed, but I wonder if there might be a local maximum or a "bump" that is teased out of the data in early December (and mid April).

And how has this affected the winter? You'll find NO connection there:

2011-'12: 9.3" of snow

2010-'11: 81"

2009-'10: 35.7"

2008-'09: 65.9"

So, suffice it to say that warm spells in early December are not harbingers of a warm (cold), snowless (snowy) winter.

OK, geeky weather talk is over now.

Another mild day is in store for tomorrow. I'm not expecting that much in the way of sun, but it's hardly a cold day. Highs again will soar into the mid and upper 50s - one last soiree into the mid air before the cold air slaps down on Wednesday.

But this is what I call "superficial cold". Highs will fall to normal by Thursday, only to rebound into the weekend as we go into the rain.

This is our next significant (no, not calling it major) weather system...and it's a wet one. HOWEVER, we need to watch the cold air on Sunday. It may seep in from the north and attempt to insert some wintery weather across New England. How far south it gets into our area is still up for question.

Pete

Like A Waterfall

Posted by Pete Bouchard

If you were caught in those 'cloudbursts' today, you had more than you could handle in the rain department. Torrents fell in a short amount of time - what we deem 'flash flooding' in the weather biz. Since it happens suddenly, the National Weather Service has adopted the acronym TADD:

Bam! Pow!

Posted by Jeremy Reiner

Bam. Pow! Those were some nasty storms last evening with some towns in metrowest & the city itself blasted with locally heavy rain, hail, lightning and strong wind gusts. A cool front is the culprit and that front will linger across the region again today. That means another round of some scattered showers & t-storms likely.

Thunderous Start to Workweek

Posted by Pete Bouchard

Heat and a bit of humidity fed a strong - and sometimes severe - line of thunderstorms today. By the time the dinner hour rolled around (6pm-ish), the storms had consolidated into a line. Everyone got a drink of water and a big drop in temperatures - some falling nearly 20 degrees in minutes!

Rear-view Mirror

Posted by Jeremy Reiner

As we exit our recent soggy pattern we do so with one more weather system capable of producing scattered showers & t-storms. This cool front is a slow mover (aren't we all on Monday mornings?!) up in northern New England right now. This slow moving front will settle into our part of the world very late this afternoon bringing a chance of some scattered t-storms between 4-pm. Until then you have a great day with mostly sunny skies along with temperatures in the low 80s. For some, a bit on the humid side for much of the day.