Heavy Rain ends, Rivers rise and recede

The Blackstone River will come out of its banks in Northbridge this afternoon.  It will be nothing like the flooding going on in PA and NY thankfully.  Godspeed to those folks who are facing evacuations by foot.  Southern New England was protected by an area of high pressure that did not allow the axis of heavy tropical moisture to feed into New England.  Our good fortune is someone else's nightmare so all we can be is thankful. The combination of this weeks rain on top of Irene's rain is causing this flooding.  Here is the Blackstone River forecast

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Center forecast 

The forecast calls for the river to rise almost to flood stage; I think it comes over its banks and crests around 10 feet, just like during Irene.  This is something to watch throughout the fall.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a top 5 flooding event in Northbridge during the fall.  Home and business owners along the Blackstone should be ready to evacuate; a flooding event like 2005 is not out of the question.

The good news is that most of the rain is over and tomorrow will be a nice day.  Hurricane Katia will be making its closest approach on Friday.  A high surf warning is in effect for south facing beaches.  Waves will be 4-10 feet, the highest on the Cape and Islands.  Dangerous rip currents will also make swimming a bad idea so lets stay out of the water.   Anyway tomorrow starts off with dense fog, burning off by 11 and leaving a nice day.  Temperatures will soar into the low 80's.  The high school football games should be fine, a nice opening night in which a light jacket is all you will need.  Mainly clear skies with temperatures in the mid 60's throughout the game.

On Saturday I expect morning rain to end by about 10 am and the rest of Saturday should be okay.  However the day may be gray and temperatures will struggle to get out of the low 70's.  Saturday night the fall chill will be in the air as temperatures drop into the lower 50's.  I would expect all the coolest locations to drop into the upper 40's.  You'll notice on Sunday because despite party sunny skies, temperatures will struggle to reach 70.  It will be a great start to the NFL season and weather just like the morning of 9/11.  I can't believe its been 10 years, that day feels like yesterday.

Tropics Discussion
Maria will pass by tomorrow.  Maria looks like its heading on a starting pass very similar to Irene.  Several factors should limit Maria if she survives the wind shear she is currently facing.  The official NHC forecast and track takes Maria to the threshold of hurricane strength.  Nate may actually bring some rain to Texas after all.  He is going to sit around, become a Hurricane and make up his mind.  

That's all for now, I wanted to focus on our weather today.  More later.