Massachusetts News

Here’s the timeline for Friday’s expected thunderstorms

Meteorologists say that the thunderstorms will be strong, but flooding and tornados are unlikely.

The Boston area is expected to get two sets of thunderstorms on Friday. Craig Walker/The Boston Globe

By Susannah Sudborough

2 minutes to read

Most of Massachusetts could see up to 1.5 inches of rain Friday amid severe thunderstorms, but flooding and tornados are unlikely, according to local forecasters.

Storm timeline

Massachusetts is expected to experience two rounds of thunderstorms on Friday, National Weather Service meteorologist Bryce Williams said.

By sunrise, western and central Massachusetts will likely see some scattered thunderstorms, he said. The storms are expected to reach the rest of the state over the course of the morning and early afternoon.

There will likely be a break in the storms in the afternoon and early evening, Williams said, but a new line of thunderstorms is expected to hit western and central Massachusetts around 7:30 p.m. Eastern Massachusetts will likely see the second set of storms around 9:30 p.m.

The second set of storms is expected to taper off in western and central Massachusetts around midnight Friday, Williams said. Eastern Massachusetts will likely see storms into the early morning hours, and Cape Cod and the islands could get rain up until sunrise.

Impacts of the storms

All in all, the entire state is expected to see between half an inch to an inch and a half of rain Friday, Williams said. The chances of flooding have decreased significantly from what the service originally expected.

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“If we happen to get storms that are lining up one after the other over an urban center like Boston or Providence, we would probably have some flooding issues,” he said. “But otherwise, it’s looking like flooding is gonna be less of a concern than we were thinking 24 hours ago.”

Some wind damage is possible, with gusts expected to get up to around 50 mph, but a tornado is not likely, Williams said. Hail is also possible.

Still, the service issued a coastal flooding warning for eastern Massachusetts from 11 p.m. Thursday to 3 a.m. Friday. Specifically, the warning says, the North Shore from Gloucester to Newburyport could be affected.

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Lows Thursday night are expected to hit the mid 60s in the Boston area, with a high Friday of 79 degrees, according to the service. The rest of the weekend is expected to be sunny and clear with highs in the low 80s, dropping to the mid 60s overnight.

Here’s what other local forecasters are saying about the storms:

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