I’s not a lot, but we finally have some rain on the way tonight. It’ll arrive after sunset tonight — probably midnight on the 95 corridor, and out by sunrise tomorrow. It won’t add up to more than just a couple tenths of an inch at most but it’s better than nothing!
To date, we have the 2nd and 3rd driest fall on record for Worcester and Boston so we’re desperate for some water, especially for the brush fire fights across Massachusetts.
Today the air quality was a big concern across the North Shore. Yesterday we had a northerly wind that pushed the smell of wildfire smoke into Boston. Today that wind flipped to the southeast and pushed the smoke into the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire. The air quality now (3:30pm) is much better than it was this morning when it was unhealthy and hazardous across most of Essex County and the North Shore.
Take Lynn for example. Overnight and early this morning with an inversion in the atmosphere, the air was hazardous and unhealthy — in fact for a few hours around late morning Lynn, Massachusetts had the worst air quality in the nation. We’ve since seen that improve, thanks to a bit more of a breeze. So the wind is a Catch-22, it helps mix up the air and disperse some of the smoke but it also helps fan the flames of the ongoing brush fires.
Unfortunately the forecast is like one step forward, two steps back. We have some rain on the way for tonight. It’s showers, so not a steady soaking rain, but at least it’s rain. The problem is the next two days feature more sunshine, warmer temperatures and the return of the breeze — all things that increase the risk of brush fires and brush fire spread.
Thursday of course is Halloween and it looks warm for the kids! Afternoon highs should soar into the mid to upper 70s across most of the area with trick-or-treating temperatures slowly sliding back to the 60s. No warm jackets or costume cover ups needed this year!
And while we desperately need rain and maybe some of us would appreciate more typical October temperatures, we’ll be grateful we have a nice Halloween forecast because we all know that New England can also give us the other side of the coin this time of year. Take today in 2011 for example… “Snowtober” where 10 to as much as 30″ of snow fell across Massachusetts.
