Winds ease but the cold continues its grip on New England
Temperatures today will be 10 to 15 degrees below average, remaining in the low to mid-20 in this afternoon.
Winds yesterday gusted up to 68 miles per hour in Worcester and Fitchburg and nearly 60 at Logan Airport. Scattered power outages were reported, although truthfully not as many as I thought we might see. We have winds again today, but the gusts shouldn’t be as strong as yesterday.
We have a wind advisory in effect for Boston instead of a high wind warning like yesterday. That hazard is relegated for Worcester County as well as the higher elevations of the Berkshires, where those winds will continue to gust over 50 miles per hour at times this afternoon. Once again, there could be some outages.
I was looking at the water vapor loop yesterday and you can see the storm spinning across Eastern Canada. The pressure on this storm is around 960 millibars and eventually it’s going to pull into Labrador and finally merge with another storm where it spins south of Greenland as an even more intense monster.
Once the storm gets farther north, the pressure gradient that has been creating all the wind will subside and you’ll notice a markedly different feel to the day Wednesday. The strong winds today, however, are bringing us plunging wind chills, especially over those higher elevations where it could feel anywhere from 0 to 15 below in the morning.
Since it’s school vacation week, kids aren’t waiting for buses but you might need to bundle up as you head out. Temperatures today will be 10 to 15 degrees below average, remaining in the low to mid-20 in this afternoon.
On Wednesday, the temperatures will be a little bit better getting into the mid to upper twenties and without the wind that dog walk will be a little bit easier.
You may have heard about a potential storm on Thursday. Presently, it looks like this system is going to miss us. Nevertheless, the northwestern shield of snow could bring a period of light snow to southeastern Massachusetts Thursday night with a coating to an inch or two.
Friday and the weekend look great with plenty of sunshine. Temperatures will be above freezing Friday and Saturday and approaching 40 degrees by Sunday. The second half of February has the sun angle getting to mid-October strength. Even when temperatures are cold, areas in the sun can experience some melting.
Tuesday’s breakdown
Greater Boston: A partly sunny yet colder day with a wind advisory in place but gusts will be less than yesterday. Highs in the low 20s with wind chills below zero in the morning and single digits during the day as gusts reach 20 to 30 mph.
Central and Western Mass.: A high warning today for gusty winds 40 to 60 mph with sunshine and a few clouds with highs only in the teens. Wind chill values are below zero much of the day.
Cape and Islands: Wind advisories in place for today with sunshine and temperatures into the mid-20s this afternoon. Cold and dry for Wednesday with less wind and highs near 30.
Rhode Island: Sunshine today with blustery conditions and cold temperatures. Highs 22 to 27. Less wind and still cold tomorrow.
New Hampshire: Wind advisories are in place for the northern areas with high wind warnings south for today. There are cold advisories for the higher terrain as well. Temperatures will be in the single digits north and teens south.
Sign up here for our daily Globe Weather Forecast that will arrive straight into your inbox bright and early each weekday morning.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com