The final week of April will be a typical one. You’ll notice temperatures on the cooler side of average, but not by much, along with a few showers.

This morning I want to start the blog by showing you a satellite loop. I always tell students to loop the weather when you can because it gives such a great idea of what’s happening. On this loop you can see the clouds rotating southward from Maine towards New York. This loop uses temperature to image clouds and is called infrared. Meteorologists use this type of loop at night. Since I’m starting this blog at 5AM, I can’t use the visible loop which uses the sun to show the clouds.

Areas of elongated lower pressure what’s causing the clouds and eventual showers for later today. These troughs as we call them are not circulating areas of low pressure or storms, rather just an area where the pressure of the air is lower. These things usually don’t bring much rain or snow, but can keep clouds going for a day or two.

This morning is dry and you will likely see a few glimpses of sunshine. The clouds are going to thicken and it will be on the cool side. The radar loop below courtesy of WeatherBell Analytics shows showers increasing in coverage as we go through the day.

You might look at this loop and think there is going to be a lot of rain, but in actuality there won’t be. As a matter of fact some areas could see less than a tenth of an inch of rainfall. Plant enthusiasts would like three-quarters of an inch to an inch of rain each week during the growing season.

The image below gives a rough estimate of the rainfall through Tuesday. Much of this falls by tomorrow morning, with just a bit more afterwards.

It’s not going to be very warm this week with 50s for highs more common than 60s. I know it might seems like it has been a cold month, but when we run the numbers later this week, it will likely come out very close to average.

You can find more of my weather forecasts and gardening tips on Twitter @growingwisdom.
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Weekend Warm-Up
The end of the week forecast does have some challenges. For nearly 10 days the models have been forecasting a spring nor’easter. Just like in winter, the exact track of this system will determine if we do get rain or just clouds and cool conditions on Friday. The final day of the workweek (the 5-day one) might be wet, but the weekend is showing signs of improvement and a warming trend which may finally bring some 70F weather to southern Maine next week.

Skiing and Flooding
There is still skiing at some areas, check first of course to be sure they are opened. The Mattawamkeag River remains in flood and will likely stay there through the week. The chart below shows a slow decline in the river level through the weekend.

Severe Weather
It’s still severe weather season and although this has been an exceedingly quiet one thus far, there are some big storms in the south this morning. I found this image from the National Weather Service out of Texas. Notice the line of strong storms they are concerned about today. These storms could spawn tornadoes and of course damage.