This has been an interesting summer of weather. Of course, I can’t think of any season when there’s not something that seems out of the ordinary, but that’s what makes it fun to discuss.
This summer’s main story seems to be about another drought along the coast, but adequate rainfall inland. I’ve gotten several tweets about the drought and many of you along the coast are lamenting the lack of rain. There are two opportunities for the coast to receive rain this week, the best on Friday night and early Saturday.
For sun worshipers, your days are coming soon. More on that shortly.
FRONTAL SHOWERS TUESDAY
Today brings the chance for showers as they form in the mountains and move southeast. The coastline will see a chance for showers and storms in the late afternoon and evening. Some storms could contain strong gusty winds and even some hail, but it is almost as likely that some areas miss the showers altogether.
Showers and storms will form later Tuesday and move to the coast in the evening.
BEST DAYS AHEAD
Wednesday and Thursday bring back the sunshine, with warm temperatures and no chance of rain. Vacationers can take advantage of being at the beaches or the lakes. While we don’t see any advisories along the Maine coast for heavy surf, there may be some large swells moving onshore later Wednesday. That would be caused by Hurricane Gert passing to our east.
Hurricane Gert will not directly impact the United States, but will bring some rough surf.
COASTAL BENEFICIAL RAIN?
The thing about droughts is that they eventually end. We know that coastal Maine is going to get significant rain again, the tough part is predicting which of the upcoming weather systems will bring it. The rainfall deficit is now approaching 5 inches since June 1. Portland is only about an inch over the all-time driest June 1-August 15 on record. In other words, it’s dry out there.
The lack of rain is quickly deepening the drought in southern Maine.
On Friday evening, low pressure approaching from the west will bring an area of rain into New England. This may be accompanied by some steady hours of rain or even downpours. The weather system isn’t fully formed yet and the models will help forecasters determine just how much rain we will actually see by Saturday mid-morning. Greater Portland and much of the coastline would benefit from 2 inches of rain over a 12-to-18-hour period. Unfortunately, I see closer to a half-inch. That helps the drought, but won’t bust it.
An area of rain approaches New England on Friday.
Follow Dave Epstein’s forecasts on Twitter @growingwisdom
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.