The juxtaposition of a beautiful day and what happened in Boston yesterday is always so strange to me.  Last evening I was sitting outside watching the birds have a last feeding before they went to sleep. I kept thinking how fortunate I am to live in such a great part of the world during a fantastic time of year and yet keenly aware many families were living in utter dismay as their own lives had been turned upside down in an instant.  I often say that I can tell you how everyone’s story ultimately ends, but the manner and timing of that ending are what we don’t know.

The reality of the human condition is that we all go on in spite of and in the presence of tragedy.   I want to retreat to my garden and just shut down the world, yet I have things that need to get done, forecasting, grading, and clients with expectations.  So onward I go with my day despite yesterday having chipped away something from me that’s hard to express.

Today is going to be a mild and breezy day. I think you will notice the wind this afternoon as it increases from the south.  I much of southern Maine southerly winds this time of year come from the Gulf of Maine where the waters are still quite chilly. As the wind rides over the water it cools.  That cool air then flows north into much of the area.  This is why the coast will be the coolest part of the area this afternoon while inland areas to the west of the Sebago, Sanford are the warmest.   You can expect inland areas near the  60F mark will it falls back to the lower 50s after 3PM along the water.

I will be tracking a cold front marching quickly eastward during the day today.  The timing of the front is such that it should be offshore tomorrow.  This front will provide enough lift to the air (make it go up) to create clouds and a few showers late this afternoon and overnight.  The best chance for any showers and even the rumble of thunder will be early this evening until a few hours after midnight.  The image below shows one model’s radar prediction around 1 AM Wednesday.  You can see from this image that some areas to the north and west of Portland will have already had a few showers while areas towards Boston have yet to receive any rain.

Wednesday will be a very nice day. Abundant sunshine pushes temperatures in the upper 50s and with a northwest wind; the coast will be the mildest with the mountains a bit cooler.  Another weather system starts to make a run for southern New England at the end of the week. Clouds increase Thursday with a small risk of showers.  Right now it looks like Friday will be mild with a few showers, but much of the day should be dry.  A steadier period of rain falls Saturday with the exact timing still up in the air.  Sunday looks like the best day of the weekend with sunshine and typical mid-April temperatures.

 

I’ll be updating gardening tips and weather information on Twitter at @growingwisdom Please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Gardening this week For the past several weeks I have been enjoying harvesting claytonia from containers off my deck. Claytonia is a great little plant that can be easily wintered over by covering your containers or putting them in the garage. You can then move them outside in early spring and watch them resume growing.