Warm and muggy midweek could fuel strong storms Thursday

Another sunny day is on tap for Wednesday, once some morning fog burns off. High temperatures will range from 80-85° in northern areas, to the 60s at the shore! About as big of a sea breeze discrepancy as you will see all year long.

Winds will remain predominantly out of the South-Southwest through Thursday that’ll import the warmer air along with increasing levels of humidity (but not too much) to complete that early summer feel.

Late Thursday afternoon we turn our attention to an incoming cold front that will bring showers and thunderstorms with it. Right now the timing of the storms looks to be between 3-6PM. However, as any storms move across the Ocean State and begin to encounter that cooler marine air that’ll be over the south coast and in Southeastern MA it’ll quickly take the punch out of those storms. So, while any storms may be somewhat stronger in western New England they will weaken quite a bit as they cross Worcester county and the CT/RI border.

According to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, the likeliest threats for these storms are some gusty winds and small hail.

The passage of that cold front will kill off the humidity for Friday which will still on the warm side with highs in the upper 70s, gradually coming down a bit through Memorial Day weekend. Memorial day itself will feature more clouds and and an onshore flow returning to cool things back into the 60s.

-Meteorologist Geoff Bansen