Sheets and Sheets of Rain

A summer Nor'easter is bearing down on southern New England today, one day after dropping over 7 inches of rain in New York City.  Ample moisture is available and the storm is moving more slowly than an elderly person in Wal-Mart.  The ocean temperatures are also very warm, so add these 3 factors in and we are going to see a lot of rainfall today.  The Blackstone Valley is a in a "bulls-eye" of sorts where 2-3 inches of rain could fall.  The consequences of such heavy prolonged rain is rising streams and street flooding of areas that do not drain water fast.  The National Weather Service has issued a flood advisory until 11 am due to very heavy rain.  Just looking at the radar and doing a "nowcast" it wouldn't surprise me if someone finished with over 5 inches of rain this morning.  Area's on Long Island saw over 10 inches of rain yesterday and it's still raining.  The radar currently is showing very intense rain slowly creeping north in Eastern Connecticut.

NWS Taunton radar

The heavy concentrated downpours will continue this afternoon and evening.  Leftover showers will pepper the area the tomorrow before exiting and leaving a nice Wednesday.  Thursday also looks good, warm and mostly sunny.  However another shot of wet weather is possible at the end of the week.  For reasons mentioned above I decided to concentrate on today's weather event.

Tropical Storms Franklin and Gert formed over the weekend.  Franklin bombed away out to sea and was classified for all of 24 hours.  Gert is just to the east of Bermuda and is a strong Tropical Storm.  Gert may become the first hurricane of the season.  A tropical wave is interacting with the Lesser Antilles and it is becoming better organized.  This could become Harvey.  Another impressive tropical wave moved off Africa today and that is another one to watch.  There have been 7 tropical storms, but no Hurricanes so far.  That will change and it will change soon.

Finally, my thoughts and prayers go out to the people killed in Indianapolis this weekend.  The strong wind gust was caused by a severe thunderstorm.  Its known as a gust front and they often produce extensive damage.  People like to ask "What could have been done?" The honest question is nothing could have been done.  It was a terrible natural disaster.  The fair officials would not have been able to evacuate everyone in time because the wind precedes the actual thunderstorm.  Its time to remember those killed and learn from this, not place blame.