The cold front behind New England's potent frontal system has finished crossing the region. The storm brought with it pounding rains and strong winds. Minor River flooding and widespread power outages occurred with the storm, which has been confirmed to be a multi-day restoration project.
New England saw a peak of around 96,000 outages early Thursday morning. During this peak outage, Maine led the way with just over 90,000 alone. One of the state's power companies, Versant, has confirmed this will be a multi-day restoration project. New England's other states escaped with much less wind damage. Massachusetts peaked with around 24,000 outages Wednesday evening. Continued blustery conditions behind the front may cause continued fluctuations in the numbers throughout today.
Wind gusts of 50-60mph were common along the southern New England and Maine coastlines. The highest gust reported as of Thursday morning came from Bar Harbor, where a 67mph gust was reported. Winds reported were just about in line with what was expected. This wind came thanks to a powerful low-level jet that was running at 90-100mph about 5,000 feet above sea level. This jet was expected to ramp up slowly as it quickly raced eastward. This brought some uncertainty to where the highest winds would fall.
An eastward trend in the storm's track as it moved in pushed the highest winds farther east. Wind advisories were cancelled early across western New England and southern New Hampshire escaped the winds with little harm. Meanwhile, Maine's Midcoast and Downeast areas saw widespread tree damage and power outages as the low-level jet was able to organize and sweep across eastern Maine.
Below: Map of wind damage reports across New England:
As expected, New England picked up a widespread 1-3 inches of rain with localized higher amounts. The only area that reported less than an inch was portions of Downeast Maine. The highest rain total in New England came in at 4.7 inches in Richmond, Rhode Island. Multiple fine lines of convection enhanced rain totals across Rhode Island and the Massachusetts South Shore.
Below: Estimated rainfall over the last 24 hours:
Spotty minor river flooding occurred across New England with flood warnings being issued for the Wood River at Hope Valley, RI; Pawtuxet River at Cranston, RI; Pawcatuck River at Westerly, RI Hoosic River at Williamstown, MA; Walloomsac River at Bennington, VT; Pemigewasset River at Woodstock, NH and the Saco River at Conway, NH. Many of these rivers crested at minor flood stage. Most are receding quickly and some flood warnings have already been canceled.
Not much urban/poor drainage flooding has been reported. With that said, the Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston did flood Wednesday night, forcing drivers to drive through the flooded waters. The flood was blamed on debris blocking a drain as well as a broken water pump.
The 1-3 inches of rainfall will be highly beneficial in the long-term with much of New England in drought conditions. This will make a big dent in the drought, especially across southern New England. The US drought monitor is updated every Thursday, but this weekly update takes into account rainfall through Tuesday morning, so this storm's rain won't be factored into today's update; it will be included in next week's update.
One of the more interesting parts of this storm was the temperature gradient it created. A strong cold air dam set up at the surface preceding the storm's arrival. This trapped cold air at the surface while much warmer air moved into the region aloft. It took time to erode the cold air at the surface, especially in the valleys, where the cold air was trapped for much of the day. This allowed temperatures in the 30s and 60s to coexist within 15 miles of each other in some places.
Below: Observed temperatures around 4pm Wednesday:
This also allowed for rapid temperature swings, especially across New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Manchester, New Hampshire jumped from 39° to 61° within 15 minutes, a 22° jump, during the six o'clock hour. A momentary northerly shift in the wind dropped the temperature back to 44° around 7:15pm. The temperature would rise back to 60° by 8pm.
Below: Manchester, NH temperature chart showing observed temperatures throughout Wednesday:
OUTLOOK
Some scattered snow showers, mainly in western New England, will be possible Thursday afternoon as strong cold air advection continues behind the cold front. A strong area of high pressure will gradually build into New England through the weekend. This will allow breezy conditions to very gradually die down. It will remain blustery today and breezy tomorrow. Winds will continue to back off through the weekend as the high pressure system takes hold.
This high pressure is a strong one, with a central pressure modeled at 1,044 to 1,048mb (for reference, average pressure, neither high nor low, is around 1,013mb). This will bring mainly sunny skies and cold temperatures as great radiational cooling conditions will set up for the weekend.
Below: Weather map for Saturday morning:
A warming trend looks to commence for next week. It may be a rather unsettled week as limited blocking and zonal flow will allow for a few weaker systems to move through the region. With the warming trend, it's currently looking like rain will be the dominant precipitation type next week. Overall, next week may see changeable temperatures, with an up and down trend.
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