New England Weather This Week: Pretty Quiet

This week will be another pretty standard mid-spring week for New England. It'll be mainly dry with mild temperatures for the most part. Systems look to bring showers Monday night and over the weekend.

MONDAY & TUESDAY

This time frame will be quiet and seasonable for the most part. On Monday, a ridge of high pressure will slide offshore of New England, allowing for an afternoon sea breeze to develop and penetrate inland. This will keep temperatures in the 50s along the coastal plain while lower elevation inland areas push into the low to mid 60s. Clouds will slowly increase through the afternoon from west to east as the next frontal system approaches.

That frontal system will cross New England from west to east this evening through Tuesday morning from most. Scattered showers will break out ahead of the system's warm front and steadily push eastward through the overnight hours. Widespread showers with embedded moderate to heavy rain are possible once inside the warm sector. Total rainfall will be on the lighter side, with amounts in the 0.10-0.25 inch range.

Below: HRRR showing potential weather overnight tonight:

The system's cold/occluded front will cross New England through the daytime on Tuesday. The main batch of showers will exit most of New England through Tuesday morning ahead of the front. The front will slow down and weaken as it crosses the region, so Tuesday isn't looking cooler than Monday. In fact, the weakening of the front will allow southern and central New England to remain in a warm sector type air mass, allowing for a milder day.

Below: HRRR showing potential temperatures Tuesday afternoon:

Since the front will be slowing down, its eastward progression Tuesday afternoon is a bit of a question mark. To the west of the front, breaks of sunshine and mild conditions are expected while areas remaining east of it will likely be cloudier and cooler with a higher shower chance throughout the day.

As of now, it looks like the front will make it into Maine, but not the eastern half of the state. This would allow for a secondary low to form in the Gulf of Maine, keeping eastern Maine cool and cloudy. Afternoon highs outside of eastern Maine will come down to the amount of sun that can break through.

WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY

It'll remain quiet for the latter part of the week as high pressure looks to dominate New England. Zonal flow will be in place for New England, which often lends itself to low-impact weather with seasonable temperatures. This looks to be the case with dry conditions and partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies for Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures during this time will likely be running seasonable to a bit mild for late-April standards. With high pressure in place, afternoon sea breezes may undercut the mild temperatures, however.

A developing trough over the Great Lakes late in the week will begin to push eastward toward New England by the week's end. As of now, Friday looks to be a mainly dry day with precipitation chances beginning to rise later in the day for western areas. Clouds will likely increase compared to Wednesday and Thursday as the system approaches. Depending on how the trends shake out in regards to the system, Friday could trend wetter, especially for the western half of New England.

Below: Current weather map for Friday morning (April 25):

WEEKEND

The trough over the Great Lakes looks to cross New England over the weekend, currently aiming for Saturday. A strong southerly flow ahead of the cold front and the departing high pressure to our east will result in a stream of higher moisture riding up the coast. A shield of rain may accompany the system's cold front with more by way of scattered showers ahead of it. Large timing differences exist among guidance, so the shield of precipitation may not result in an all-day washout scenario. Trends will be watched throughout the week.

Below: Current weather map for Saturday morning (April 26):

At this point, the system's cold front does look to usher in a cooler and drier air mass for Sunday leading to a dry and seasonable day. This could trend cloudier and wetter should the frontal system trend toward a later start time. If this did happen, it would result in a nicer day on Saturday. The takeaway is that one of the weekend days likely won't be bad; early signals point toward this day being Sunday.