Meteorologists, when speaking about the wind, name the wind by the direction it comes from, not the direction it’s going.  The convention is completely opposite of the way we name highway direction.  If you are on the Mass Pike heading from Boston to Worcester, you are going west, but if you were the wind, we would name you an east wind because you’re coming <em>from</em> the east.

 

During a nor’easter, the wind comes from the northeast and mariners in particular, realized that wind direction often brought high seas and dangerous conditions. 

We do have a nor’easter on the way for the weekend and it’s a slow moving one too.  This means a prolonged period of rain once it begins accompanied by chilly air coming off the cold Atlantic.

Before we get to our weekend storm, we do have a mild but breezy/blustery sort of day today. A southwest wind (coming from the warm part of the country) will help boost temperatures above normal for a change.  Highs this afternoon will reach the 50s. 

Later this evening, a cold front will move through and this brings with it a chance of a few showers.  I am not expecting much in the way of rainfall and any shower activity should hold off until late this afternoon and evening.

Any rain won’t last long and skies will partially clear overnight.  Saturday is going to be a transitional day between dry weather most of the day and wet weather most of Sunday. The rain should hold off until just a few hours before sunset.  If you have things you want to get done outside tomorrow, take care of them during the first 2/3rds of the day. 

Overnight the rain continues to overspread southern Maine from the south and becomes quite steady and even heavy before midnight  There will be big puddles developing and some roads that normally flood could have issues.   

This image below shows a projected radar for around 8PM Saturday.  The orange and red colors represent heavier rain and even some downpours.  This entire area will be moving northeast.

The rain continues Saturday night and even into Sunday.  By the time the storm winds downs late Sunday or early Monday 2 to 3 inches of rain will have fallen across the area.  It wouldn’t shock me if a town or two received 4 inches of rain.

Coastal winds

Winds will be gusty along the coast Saturday night and Sunday as the storm increases in strength and passes by the area.   On Monday continues improve as high pressure moves back into the region and skies clear.  It looks as though it’s going to remain seasonable much of next week so the snow banks still let lying around after the rain will continue shrinking.

Ski areas

While we are most definately seeing rain along the coast and even into the foothills, there is the chance that some of the upcoming storm could be snow for the northern ski areas.   The temperature profile of the atmosphere can be difficult to predict this time of year and it may be some ski areas see rain at the base lodges and snow on the higher trails.  The storm is still 48 hours away so there is time to refine the forecast.

I’ll be updating the forecast on Twitter @growingwisdom. Follow @growingwisdom