Wonder what a meteorologist means when he or she says there will be “scattered” or “isolated” or “spotty” showers? Friday evening was a perfect example. There was one shower that produced torrential rain from Boylston to Shrewsbury. It never grew big enough to produce lightning, so it was just a shower, not a thunderstorm. Regardless, Shrewsbury recorded .52″ and Boylston observed .94″ in just 25 minutes! Meanwhile, Worcester only got .26″ ALL DAY and Boston even less…only .06″ for the entire day! In other words, there are the haves and the have nots. Technically, “scattered” means that there will be more total showers than “isolated” or “spotty,” but all of those words indicate that any showers will be hit or miss. Expect “spotty” showers in the coming days.
But speaking of the “have nots,” including the paltry amount of rain yesterday, Boston has only received .72″ of rain for the entire month. That makes this July the 6th driest on record for Boston. And that follows a dry June. Combined, so far we are off to the 3rd driest summer on record. Obviously, as I just pointed out, the rain bucket at Boston Logan International Airport where official weather observations are made does not represent the entire area. But it does explain why many of us have dry, dead lawns.
We do have more rain in the forecast for the next few days, but like Friday, it won’t be a widespread drought buster. Unfortunately, the science of meteorology hasn’t yet advanced to the point where we can tell you exactly when and where it will rain, just that conditions are favorable for the development of hit or miss showers. So, if you are wondering if your family picnic at X:XX time on Sunday in YYY town will be OK, all I can tell you is that you should be prepared to take cover.
But you won’t have to worry about that on Saturday! Saturday will be the brighter of the two weekend days. Everyone should be dry during the daylight hours on Saturday. However, clouds will increase late in the day. There could be a few spotty showers in Western MA Saturday evening, but Eastern MA should be dry until the overnight hours.
It could rain at almost anytime on Sunday, but most of the area will be dry for most of the day. Expect more clouds than anything else. The day won’t be a washout, so don’t cancel any of your outdoor plans, just be prepared with a “plan B” if you just happen to be one of the lucky/unlucky ones to get one of those showers. If you are looking for rain, my personal experience would indicate that inviting a bunch of friends and family over for an outdoor party always seems to bring the rain, even when the best science available would predict dry weather. Maybe that’s just me though.
Same idea for Monday and even early Tuesday. The good news is that the cloud cover will bring us a welcome break from the recent heat wave. Temps will only be in the 70s for Sunday – Tuesday!
Sunshine returns in force on Wednesday and the warm-up begins. The 90s are back by Friday.