August 19th, 1991….remember what happened? Our last land-falling hurricane in New England—Hurricane Bob. It was a storm that formed in the Bahamas just 3 days earlier then moved up the east coast and making (2) landfalls in New England…first was Block Island Then Newport RI. The track from there cut across southeast Massachusetts and in doing so put down a lot of rain –5- 7″ just west and north of Boston, a 10-15 foot storm surge up into Buzzards Bay and wind gusts around and over 100mph (105 mph in Block Island, 100 mph on Provincetown). Damage was estimated near 1 billion dollars. Since then….some glancing blows from hurricanes and tropical storms (Irene/Sandy) but no hurricanes.
This evening we do have 1 tropical storm (Fiona) in the tropical Atlantic and it will head northwest this weekend and then weaken–passing east of Bermuda early next week (in search of Shrek). Typically, late August through early September is the most active time of the hurricane season and with no El Nino around this summer, more activity is expected in this timeframe than what we saw last year. We shall see.
As for our weather, it’s looking great for outdoor enthusiasts not so good for the drought. We have 1 shot of some rain in the next 7 days and that’s from a cold front plowing out of Canada. This front won’t reach us until very early Monday morning so until then, plan on much the same….sun with some clouds (early morning hours) with seasonably warm temps as well as building humidity. This front will brush us with some scattered rains (what’s new?) as most towns receive less than .25″ and only a lucky few pick up a bit more. These showers are gone early Monday and the summer humidity isn’t far behind. In fact, I think there will be a touch of fall in the air early Tuesday morning as temps start in the low 50s (even some upper 40s in the cool spots!). The afternoon hours will feature cobalt blue skies, temps in the upper 70s and very dry air. A preview of what is on the way.
Have a great weekend!
~JR