It was another day without any real rain across the area. We had a few sprinkles and spotty showers this morning but as far as any sort of drought relief or brush fire relief that was again non existent today. We are currently sitting in the top five for driest falls on record for both Boston and Worcester with no rain to speak of in the forecast. The dry conditions are one part, but a huge part, in our high brush fire risk that has developed as of late.
In fact, I’m fairly certain today is the first time I have used the drought monitor all year… both on tv or here in the blog. While we’ve had dry stretches here and there this summer and early fall we didn’t have any drought concerns until now. We had a wet winter and wet spring which helped carry us through the summer but with a 30 day dry stretch from mid August to mid September and less than 3/4″ of rain in October, the drought has returned.
One thing that really pushed our fire danger extra high today was the wind. It was fairly gusty and while the dry weather is a major factor, the wind is a big one too. While we still need to be careful for the foreseeable future (not rain ahead!) the lack of wind tomorrow will make things a little better. That said, we have a nice day tomorrow with sunshine, seasonable temperatures and hardly any wind!
As we head into the weekend, the wind will return and it’ll be a factor for both outside plans and the fire threat this weekend. For the brush fire risk, the wind is back for both Saturday and Sunday. For your outdoor plans, while about equal, the wind will probably be more impactful on Sunday. Saturday is a warmer day so the wind won’t be as biting. By Sunday, temperatures drop to mid November levels so it’ll be a brisk, chilly day on Sunday.