7/8/11 A soggy tropical connection!

The heavy rains of yesterday were reminiscent of those associated with a tropical air mass of that in Florida.  Well believe it or not, the moisture in the air mass can be attributed to a landfalling tropical storm in Texas, "Don", way back on July 29!  (See details below).

For today, the tropical air mass is still in place with dew points in the lower 70's. It will feel very humid. This air mass sticks around until Wednesday when a cold front will ring out the moisture in the form of more heavy showers and storms. This will be followed by a drying trend through the weekend.

Sunday's Rain - A tropical Connection.

Although Don dissipated quickly upon landfall on the Texas coast, its tropical moisture laden air mass continued around an area of high pressure and moved into Wyoming and Montana. Then got caught up in the westerly flow and tracked into the plains and eventually into the northeast US.

Below is the moisture track on the bottom right of Don (marked with a green X).  Don's moisture got caught up in with the monsoonal moisture in the west, with a portion of it tracking North into Canada early in the week. The other portion, remained and tracked across the country.

There were other factors involved with this rain event, but it was interesting to note where some of the source came from.

The highest total was 3.88 inches in Hebron, CT.  Some local totals included:

WEST PEABODY          2.66   
   LYNN                  2.30   
   SALEM                 2.25   
   ARLINGTON             2.59  
   WAKEFIELD             2.52   
   NATICK                2.32   
   WAYLAND               2.20   
   AUBURN                3.60   
   WEBSTER               2.63 

Flooded street in Swampscott, MA on Sun, August 7, 2011.