Warm Temps Could Break Records This Weekend

By Jim Laurie

We’re in a warm weather pattern and it’s going to stick around for a few days. We may have a chance to break a high temperature record on Sunday.

The mercury reached the upper 50s on Thursday. Another weak disturbance will pass through Rhode Island Thursday night, producing isolated showers. We will see patchy fog once again Thursday night, although any shower activity will end by about 3 a.m. Friday morning. At this time, it appears the south coast will have the best chance at seeing any shower activity.

Drier air will slowly leave the lower levels of the atmosphere on Friday, allowing us to see some more sunshine as the day wears on. I will call the day partly sunny, with highs remaining in the upper 50’s. We will see some starlit skies Friday night, along with a few clouds. Temperatures will remain in the lower 40’s into early Saturday morning. Some high and mid-level cloud cover from a cold front over the Mid-Atlantic will spill over into Southern New England Saturday afternoon, making the day partly sunny. As we head into Sunday, there is a chance we could break a record.

The long range computer models are suggesting high temperatures could soar into the middle to upper 60’s. An upper level trough in the central U.S. will be strengthening and moving south. This trough will “dig” further south, bringing colder air further south. Due to this situation, warmer air will move further north, especially on the eastern U.S. Depending on how far north the warm front pushes north, this will determine what our temperature will be on Sunday. At this time, I will be conservative, and keep the high only in the lower 60’s. We will continue to see low level cloud cover staying over New England, due to the southerly winds and the higher dewpoints. Also, we are in December, and the low sun angle will not help create enough radiation for the ground to absorb during the daylight hours.

We will stay under cloudy skies Sunday night, as we await a low pressure system bringing heavy precipitation to the central U.S. We should see an isolated shower by about noon time on Monday, with heavier precipitation throughout the afternoon. We may see some soaking rains during the evening commute into the overnight, based on the American model’s forecast.

After the cold front passes through early Tuesday morning, the well above normal temperatures will come to an end. Cooler air behind the front will bring us back to more seasonable temperatures. With high pressure ridging over us, we will have mostly sunny skies by Tuesday afternoon, but expect high temperatures to only reach the upper 40’s. The high will give us nice weather into next Wednesday, with lows in the lower 30’s Tuesday night, and a return to the upper 40’s for high temperatures.

Jim Laurie is a local meteorologist who earned a B.S. in Meteorology at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, VT. Jim has fifteen years of professional experience, with eight years in the field of marine meteorology.