EAST HARDWICK – A little bit of a flip occurred this week, with the weekend largely dry and sunny with some showers scattered throughout the rest of the forecast period. We still stopped short of having a completely rain-free weekend, with a couple of local observing stations reporting a few hundredths of an inch of rain on Saturday morning. All in all, though, milder conditions and a balanced precipitation pattern set the stage for a transition to summer, which arrives on Friday.

photo by Paul Fixx
The forecast period commences with some morning showers, increasing humidity, and intermittent sunshine in the wake of a warm front lifting north across New England. Temperatures will reach the mid-80s for highs. All these ingredients may touch off some sporadic showers and thunderstorms this afternoon, with any thunderstorms having the potential to bring some heavy downpours. That activity wanes with the loss of daytime heating this evening. As a cold front approaches later Thursday and provides a lifting focus with the continued heating and humidity, thunderstorms will be more likely. Some of the storms will have the potential to produce damaging winds to 60 mph and small hail. Torrential downpours remain possible and there is an isolated risk for flash flooding.
That frontal system exits for Friday, with a chance for some lingering showers in the afternoon and cooler conditions. A repeat of that scenario exists for Saturday as another wave of low pressure passes north of us, with possibly some heavier showers. Conditions are a little sunnier and warmer on Sunday. We may be looking at our first heat wave of the season by early next week. Here are the details in the meantime:
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy in the morning. Partly sunny in the afternoon with scattered showers and thunderstorms, some with heavy downpours. High: 84. Low: 66. South wind around 5 mph.
Thursday: Partly sunny. Showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Some thunderstorms may be severe. High: 85. Low: 57. Southwest wind 10-15 mph.
Friday: Partly cloudy with scattered showers by afternoon. High: 74. Low: 53. West wind 5-10 mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy, becoming mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms by afternoon. High: 76. Low: 58. Calm wind.
Sunday: Partly sunny. High: 79. Low: 62. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Tyler is our weather reporter and a community journalist. He works as a nurse and EMT, volunteers with Hardwick Rescue and helps to train new EMTs.

