Cold and blustery Monday

After the snow and freezing rain from this morning we had some periods of heavy rain this afternoon that resulted in 1-2+ inches of rainfall across the RI. The last of the rain ends 8-10PM this evening and that’s when gusty winds will begin to kick into gear. We could be seeing winds gusting 35-50MPH tonight and even gusts of 55MPH tomorrow. You will want to try an clear up any slush on your driveway and walkways because anything that is still wet after Midnight will quickly become icy as temperatures fall back below freezing and drop all the way down to the teens and low 20s by daybreak Monday morning.

However, it’s important to note that due to all of our precipitation/runoff, the Wood River at Hope Valley and the Pawcatuck River at Westerly are both expected to reach action stage by Monday afternoon and Monday night, respectively. While true flooding is not expected, high water is expected for the Wood River until very early Tuesday morning, and the Pawcatuck until Tuesday afternoon.

Sunshine returns Monday with those gusty winds continuing and highs only in the upper 20s. Its still breezy Tuesday with lots of sun and highs in the mid 20s. A quiet, but cold day again Wednesday with highs in the upper 20s. Then we’ll be watching down the coast for a potential storm on Thursday, right now it looks like we’ll be on the outer edges of this system and some light snow will make its way across the region. Over the next 24 hours we’ll begin to get idea of how close it will come to New England and how much potential snow we might get.

ABC6 Meteorologist Bill Gile