The radar is looking a little different than it has in quite some time. Widespread showers overtaking the radar and those scattered downpours will remain through the evening and overnight as well. Notice on the timeline below we have scattered showers until about 6am, and then they exit from west to east, and we’ll see sun developing tomorrow afternoon.
These tropical downpours are a combination of two systems. The first, the remnants of Tropical Depression Erin that were pulled from their circular hurricane shape to a more elongated form. That tropical moisture is interacting with a cold front to our northwest, sparking the downpours. That cold front will also help push the the actual storm out to sea. Other than the heavy rain, the impacts from Erin will be mainly on the beaches. Rough surf and rip currents are likely into Friday morning.
We will get a lot of rain out of this tonight. Some areas especially from Boston to Providence and east will see widespread 1-3″ of rain. And it would not shock me to see a few backyard rain gauges pick up 4″ or more tonight. For that reason, a Flash Flood Watch is in effect. The creeks and rivers can hold a lot of water as we’ve been fairly dry. The concern will be the streets with poor drainage and urban flooding.
Of course the other big weather focus is now Hurricane Dorian in the Atlantic. It is now a Category 1 storm and expected to strengthen to a Category 3 storm before making landfall in Florida. The current forecast is for a landfall early Monday. There is a lot of uncertainty with the actual landfall, aside from the east coast of Florida. The forecast models range quite a bit from a landfall in Miami to Jacksonville… stay tuned.
