6/13/11 We seem to be stuck...

Wow, what a bust of the forecast overall for the weekend. It rained when I said it wouldn't rain and was dry when I said it would rain.  Explanation to follow - but that is to give you an idea on this complicated weather pattern we are in.

Cool damp weather will be with us until Wednesday, followed by a brief warm up. Summerlike weather returns next week.

Monday - Morning breaks in the cloud cover could give us a glimpse of sunshine early today, however clouds will increase today and bring some late afternoon showers.  However I do not expect a total washout or period of steady rain.

850mb - The flow around a stalled/cut off area of low pressure is tapping in cooler air from the North Atlantic near Greenland.  The flow is counter clockwise as indicated by the arrows, so an easterly marine flow will keep clouds and some rain showers around. The BLUE color indicates temperature. 

 

Normally I would not show such a map, this is the weather at 18,000 feet (500mb).  But this map is centered over New England. The greens, yellows and reds indicate areas of unsettled weather. (Rising air or energy)  With such a flow if this were in motion, the oranges over St. Lawrence are moving west then down over Pennsylvania and then up over Connecticut then out over Maine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So the map above, think of your kitchen or bathtub drain, with everything swirling around it collecting all the dirty particles and rotating it around and around. In other words, we get a repetition of weather. 

Now here is the same map for Thursday below.

Same type of map, only for this Thursday, Notice all of the Blue over New England. (The Reds move away). Blues on this map are calm, settled (sinking air) and usually clear. NOTE Colors are not temperature on this map.

Sinking air scours out the sky, Rising air creates clouds and rain.


Weekend Followup - Basically what happened this weekend, the flow around the areas of low pressure got stalled out even more so than originally thought and the energy came through at different times.  There are times when the weather will follow a basic path, or keep on doing what it is doing along its moving path. Other times, small areas can make their own weather where it is more difficult to predict.