By James Arnold, Weather Specialist
Region – We have yet another potential severe weather event for later today into this evening.? A cold front will be plowing across New England late this afternoon and evening, through the warm and very humid air mass currently in place.? Air mass dynamics are set for some strong to severe thunderstorms and the additional?lifting provided by the cold front will serve to exacerbate this condition.? The Storm Prediction Center has put much of our?region in an area with a 5% chance of hail and a 15% chance of damaging straight line winds reaching severe limits later this afternoon and evening.? They have also put?many of us in an area with a 2% chance of a tornado?today.? They did that?last Sunday?and a high end EF0 tornado formed and touched down in Worcester, which was the third tornado in Southern New England in the past 5 weeks…the others being in Wolcott, Connecticut and Revere, Massachusetts.
The current low overcast should burn off by later this morning leading to partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid to high 80s.? There will be a brisk southwest wind, making the day feel a bit more comfortable.? Showers and thunderstorms should begin to?develop and approach?Central Massachusetts by mid afternoon and continue into the evening.? As noted, some of there will likely contain hail and wind that exceeds severe limits and there is the threat of an isolated tornado.?? These storms may also be pretty slow movers, accordingly there is a good chance that urban and street flooding will develop in the usual suspect areas.? Isolated flash flooding is possible should storms train over any one area,?increasing the amount of rain falling in a short period of time.
Keep up to date with the latest National Weather Service forecasts?on radio, TV and internet outlets, as well as your NOAA weather radios if you have one.
Our weather will quiet down tomorrow, with clearing skies and cooler temperatures and much drier air as the humidity will be pushed off to our east by the advancing cold front.? The early part of next week will feature fair and cool weather, with almost a touch of the feel of fall in the air.? We do have to watch an area of disturbed weather currently?off the south Atlantic Coast in the event that some weak?tropical mischief develops in that area.? Should that happen though, the odds favor it going out to sea to our southeast, but that is not certain as yet.
James M. Arnold is a Weather Specialist working with Shrewsbury Emergency Management Agency; town of Princeton; Worcester Emergency Communications and Emergency Management Agency; Southborough Emergency Management Agency; town of Grafton and Wachusett Mountain Ski Area