New England Weather This Week: Cruise-Control

The weather for much of this week will be on cruise-control as each day will be pretty similar to the last through Thursday. A frontal system swings through at the end of the week, bringing the next chance for widespread rainfall.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

Much of this week will be dominated by the same general setup New England has seen over the last few weeks now. This involves high pressure at the surface, keeping the weather dry, mostly quiet and on the cooler end of the spectrum. A trough to New England's south and west will advect more moisture into the atmosphere aloft. This will allow for cloud development, especially in the afternoons, but no day will be completely overcast for most.

The trough and moisture aloft will become more of an open wave as it passes east through mid-week as high pressure remains firm at the surface. This will keep the weather stable and dry for a majority of the region. The best chance for a few pop-up afternoon showers will be across the mountains of northern New England, but even here, this threat looks pretty limited. Elsewhere should see nothing more than a bit of cloud development.

Below: Current precipitation forecast through Thursday morning:

With little change in the overall setup through much of this week, temperatures will basically be on cruise control with each day very similar to the last. 70s will dominate New England with some inland, low elevation areas likely pushing to the 80° mark. The center of the high pressure slips south on Wednesday and Thursday, which will allow for warm air advection to occur, making the days a notch warmer than Monday and Tuesday.

Below: Euro showing expected afternoon temperatures Wednesday afternoon:

FRIDAY

New England's next widespread shot at any measurable rain will come Thursday night into Friday. A cold front will march through the region as a deeper trough develops to the west of New England. A surface low pressure also looks to ride up the Atlantic Ocean on Friday. This will bring a period of showers from west to east Thursday night through Friday evening. A southerly surge will also bring humidity and moisture up as well.

At this point, it appears that the deeper trough will remain to New England's west during this time. That means the cold front will be strongest across western New England and weaken as it pushes east. This will keep the most showers and overall rainfall across western New England. Amounts will steadily taper off moving south and east in New England. Overall, a widespread quarter to half inch of rain may fall over western areas with a tenth to quarter of an inch farther east.

Below: Current precipitation forecast through Saturday morning:

WEEKEND

The trough remaining to the west of New England will likely pivot another cold front through New England later Friday into Saturday. It does look like the better chance for showers will come with the initial cold front on Friday, but some afternoon thunderstorms could develop on Saturday. Coverage Saturday does look much less than Friday. The air mass will likely take time to cool off after these frontal passages, so Saturday (and Friday) will remain closer to what will be seen on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

This system does look to clear out later Saturday and into Sunday as high pressure to the west attempts to build back into New England. Next Sunday may end up much like this past Sunday, though that will ultimately come down to the timing of the frontal system. The day will likely end up a notch cooler as the air mass gradually cools down after the fronts and cooler high pressure begins to build in.