7:00 AM | Strong front reaches the coast tonight; heavy rainfall and strong storms can be expected; nor'easter forms along the front and affects the weekend weather
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Mostly cloudy, still quite warm and humid, occasional showers and afternoon thunderstorms possible, any shower can produce heavy rainfall and any PM thunderstorm can be strong-to-severe with heavy rain, strong wind gusts and hail, highs in the mid 70’s
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, mild, occasional showers and thunderstorms, any shower can produce heavy rainfall and any thunderstorm can be strong-to-severe with heavy rain, strong wind gusts and hail, lows in the lower 60’s
Friday
Mostly cloudy, windy, much cooler, lingering showers and thunderstorms likely and some of the rain can be heavy, upper 60’s
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy, windy, chilly, more showers likely, upper 40’s
Saturday
Lots of clouds, windy, cool, even more showers likely, low 60’s
Sunday
Clouds and a lingering morning shower then becoming partly sunny during the afternoon, breezy, cool, mid 60’s
Monday
Mostly sunny, cool, near 70
Tuesday
Partly sunny, cool, near 70
Discussion
Big changes are on the way for the Mid-Atlantic region over the next couple of days as the pattern transitions from summer-like to rather winter-like by early this weekend with a full-fledged nor'easter developing off the Northeast US coastline. The transition from summer's warmth and humidity to yet another chilly air mass will see a drop in temperatures from the 70's to the 40's by early this weekend. As a powerhouse cold frontal system approaches the east coast today, there will be occasional showers and thunderstorms. Any shower can contain heavy rainfall and any thunderstorm that forms this afternoon and evening can reach strong-to-severe levels with heavy rain, strong gusty winds and hail. In fact, there will likely be scattered strong-to-severe thunderstorms up and down the east coast later today from the Carolinas to New England as this strong cold front heads to the coast.
Once the cold front reaches the east coast later tonight, a strong upper level low will dig into the Mid-Atlantic coastal region, and this will to cause the frontal system to grind to a halt as a nor’easter-type of coastal storm develops at the same time much chillier air pours into the region. As a result, Friday will turn out to be breezy and much cooler than today in the Mid-Atlantic region with lots of clouds and residual showers and thunderstorms and, as the coastal storm only slowly pulls away to the northeast, Saturday will likely also turn out to be quite cloudy, windy and cool with the continued threat for showers. The colder air mass will actually allow for the possibility for snowflakes to fall in some of the interior, higher elevation (>2000 feet) locations of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US early this weekend (e.g., Adirondacks, Green and White mountains). By Sunday afternoon, strong Canadian high pressure should finally take control of the weather and there will be some PM clearing and then Monday looks like the best day of the three this weekend with plenty of sunshine expected on the holiday. Temperatures will stay below normal, however, on both Sunday and Monday despite the anticipated sunshine (normal high is now 72 degrees).
Video
httpv://youtu.be/pveInhfqsV0