I think I heard a collective groan this morning when folks realized the day was going to feel more like early March than a week before May.   The good news is that the cold chilly weather isn’t going to last that long and by tomorrow afternoon most of you will get to enjoy a bit of sunshine and temperatures 15°F degrees warmer than today.  We have all seen springs where these raw days last for a week so having one of these kind of days isn’t so bad.

  

Maybe we are a bit spoiled in our expectation for what spring brings to Maine after last year’s warmth and dry weather.  This year we have had more precipitation and certainly a greater number of cloudy and chilly days. This is certainly more typical. 

 

The reason for the unsettled weather today is another coastal storm.  Just like the many storms we have had since February, this one is going to move up the coastline and then pass east of Cape Cod.  The rain shield will make it into southern New England this morning and then try to push westward and north during the day. There will be a very sharp cut-off to the rain from this system. I don’t expect much of Maine to see any significant rain.  Rather this system will bring a damp and chilly wind off the water and throw drizzle and few showers into coastal areas from time to time.  If this was 8 weeks ago we would be watching a major snowstorm occur across southeastern New England with a dusting to a few inches here along the coast.

 

The map below shows how much is forecast to fall according to the North American Model.  The European model has the rain a bit further west and north making into southern York County.  The best chance for rain in southern coastal Maine will be later this afternoon and evening.  During the early morning hours of Wednesday the storm will pull away and skies will begin to clear.  When you awake tomorrow it may still be quite gray and there could be some leftover drizzle, but the trend for tomorrow is going to be for improvement. A cold front is rapidly going to approach the area from the west Wednesday and that system has its own cloudy area and a few showers.

 

 

Between the two systems I am confident for some breaks of sunshine and nicer weather especially around lunch tomorrow. The evening looks dry with some sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50s.  You will notice continued greening and more flowers upon the landscape.

 

A fast moving front will cross the area late tomorrow night and early Thursday with a few more showers.  Skies will clear quickly Thursday morning and this leads us into a great stretch of weather all the way to Sunday.  Temperatures from Thursday through Sunday will reach near 60°F during the day and fall to the 30s to near 40°F at night.  I believe this will be one of the nicer weekends of the spring so far.  Looking further ahead the weather looks seasonable and dry to close out April and begin May.