Maybe its just me, but it *seems* like its been a wet spring. After all, there has been at least some type of precipitation on 11 days so far this month. That’s almost half of the days. We’ve had 6.6" of snow this month in Boston. That makes it the 8th snowiest April on record.
The problem is that several inches of snow usually only contains a fraction of an inch of liquid water. Plus, on 5 of the days it did rain, the rain was so light, that it added up to .05" or less. The end result is that we are about 0.3" below average when it comes to total precipitation for April and about 1.5" below average when it comes to "meteorological spring" (since March 1). In fact, the most recent Drought Monitor from the USDA and NOAA has parts of the area in the "abnormally dry" category.
Bottom-line, a little bit of rain wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. I’m sure the plants and trees that are just starting to emerge would appreciate it. The rain would also help to reduce the wildfire risk that has been really high recently. And, the allergy sufferers might appreciate the relief from the recent high tree pollen levels. It looks like we are going to get it.
Clouds roll in Sunday night but any rain should hold off until Monday. A rouge shower can’t be ruled out before lunchtime on Monday, mainly in VT or NH, but the best chance for rain will be late in the day. The chance for rain continues overnight and through most of the day on Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, moisture levels in the atmosphere will be close to record levels for the day. (For the real weather geeks, that’s 1.25" of precipitable water compared to an average of 0.6" and a record of 1.4"). That means there is a good chance that we will see a soaking rain. Most of our computer models are indicating that we will get 0.5" of rain or more Monday night and Tuesday.
Tuesday will also be a cool day with high temperatures only in the 40s. Sunshine returns on Wednesday and temperatures rebound to seasonable levels. In fact, temperatures will be close to "normal" for late April for most of the coming week, with the exception of Tuesday. Our next chance of rain comes Thursday night but right now that doesn’t look as promising.
