If you spent any time in the sun the past two days, even just sitting, you likely noticed how warm it felt.  Yesterday was actually quite cool with Portland and much of the coast staying the upper 50s to mid-60s and inland areas reaching near 70F.  The sun is so strong this time of year it overcomes the actual readings making it feel much warmer.  It’s important to remember this if you leave your pet in the car even for a short period of time.  If you park in the sun and the windows are closed, even if it’s only 66F outside, it can warm into the 90s or over 100F in your car.

Later today will feel briefly like summer.  While the first 2 days of the holiday weekend have been on the cooler side of average this afternoon will be on the warmer end.   By the time you read this a warm front will likely have pushed through and temperatures will be on their way to the upper 70s and lower 80s. 

After the showers end this morning you can expect a blend of clouds and breaks of sunshine this afternoon as temperatures reach around 80F.  Even much of the coast will be warm.  When the wind comes from the west it keeps the sea breeze from cooling down the shoreline.  Since eastern Maine sticks out into the ocean it will be cooler there, but still reach 70F or higher.  The further east of Rockland you are the cooler it will be end up later today.

Winds will be brisk this afternoon and at times gust over 20 miles per hour.  The lack of sun and brisk breeze won’t  make it an ideal beach day, but it will still be a rather nice afternoon.  I can’t rule out a quick thunderstorm this evening in the warm air, but most of us stay dry.

Tonight will be a mild night.  It will stay above 65F this evening and fall under that mark around 10PM.  By morning, it will be in the upper 50s and lower 60s and you might think we are poised for a very warm Tuesday.  Unfortunately for those of you that love warm air another marine air mass is going to push the summer-like conditions far to the south and west for the rest of the week.

I wrote about back door cold fronts a couple of weeks ago.  These are fronts which move east to west (opposite from the typical flow of weather) and bring a cool east wind to the region.  One of these fronts is going to push down the coastline from eastern Canada tomorrow morning and bring quite a dramatic change to our weather.  If you leave work early without a jacket, you might regret it at the end of the day.  I expect temperatures to rise through about 8 AM in Portland and then fall back the rest of the day.  By 5PM it will be around 51F, quite a change from today.

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

There could be a few afternoon showers Tuesday and overall it’s not going to be great day with the clouds and raw condtions.

The rest of the week will be on the cooler side of seasonable, still typical for late May, but not warm.  The middle of the week could bring a few periods of clouds and showers, but I don’t see any full on rainy days.

Copy the Story Link