That cutoff low has once again moved westward and is sitting over northern New England. This area of low pressure has been hanging around since last Saturday. It's been basically bouncing back and forth between New England and Nova Scotia. We are finally reaching the tail end of this nuisance system. The weekend will bring a change in the pattern that will push this system away for good.
SATURDAY
The low will begin pushing back toward the east very slowly overnight Friday into Saturday morning. This time, the storm will continue its eastward journey permanently. Since the storm will take its sweet time exiting, Saturday will remain cloudy and showery for most. While clouds will be numerous, showers should remain rather isolated for most. There could once again be a couple of thunderstorms as well. Showers and storms will be most widespread across Maine.
Showers and storms popping Saturday afternoon (you can see more widespread activity in Maine):
Clouds and showers will clear out from west to east. Depending on the speed of departure, western New England could see some breaks in the clouds (or even a more widespread clearing) in the afternoon. Temperatures across the region will be in the 60s, a few degrees warmer than the previous couple days. If enough clearing occurs in western areas, they could reach into the 70s; Connecticut will likely reach into the 70s.
SUNDAY
A ridge of high pressure responsible for helping kick out the cut off low will firmly be in place for Sunday. This will give all of New England one nice, seasonable, partly sunny day. Clouds will likely build from west to east in the afternoon, but no shower activity is expected for a vast majority of the region. A quick, spot shower will be possible in the White Mountains. Temperatures will be into the 70s region wide with some low 80s possible in southern New England's Connecticut River Valley and across all of Connecticut.
High pressure will dominate on Sunday:
Something to watch on Sunday will be possible wildfire smoke entering into northern New England. A shift in wind direction will occur since the cutoff low will no longer be around. This could send some smoke into areas that were protected by the low this past week, i.e. northern New England. While smoke should not be nearly as bad as it has been in southern New England, it is something worth watching.
Aerosol map for noon Sunday showing higher levels (likely from wildfire smoke) across eastern Maine:
NEXT WEEK: THE NEXT STORM
This ridge of high pressure will be short lived for New England. A storm will develop in the country's midsection early next week. This will bring increasing clouds and potentially some showers on Monday. The storm will create a southerly wind, which will keep temperatures mild Monday despite the clouds.
This storm will continue to push eastward Monday night. The center will likely track over the Great Lakes. This track will drag an associated cold front across New England sometime Monday afternoon through Tuesday. The storm could bring locally heavy rainfall.
Frontal system crossing New England early next week:
After the passage of the front, a secondary area of low pressure may develop near New England. This would allow showers and potentially afternoon thunderstorms to linger into Wednesday and Thursday. Depending on how quickly (or slowly) that low moves through, New England could be looking at another cloudy, unsettled week.
Despite the prospects of another cloudy, unsettled week, temperatures are looking to run a good 7-10 degrees warmer than this past week. This storm will also send all the Canadian wildfire smoke back to Canada early next week thanks to a southerly wind from the storm as it enters the Great Lakes region.
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