Tracking a hurricane and the start of Fall

Happy Monday!
The Main weather story today (Nationally) is Hurricane Fiona, which made landfall as a category 1 storm Sunday afternoon in Puerto Rico.  Parts of the Island will receive upwards of 2 feet of rainfall, absolutely devastating as they continue to try and recover from Hurricane Maria back in 2017.  Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a strong category 4 on Sept. 20 (almost 5 years to the day).  The big story with Maria was the wind speeds up to 150mph, taking down just about every tree in its path.  Fiona’s winds were not nearly as strong (75mph) but the rainfall has been torrential.

Fiona will pull north, away from the Island today and is forecast to strengthen to a Major hurricane, category 3 by Wednesday.  The current forecast track takes the center of the storm just west of Bermuda early on Friday and then accelerates northward in to the Canadian Martimes.

While Fiona will pass more than 500 miles to our east later this week, it will still churn up the Ocean pretty good.  Expect to see some good wave action beginning Thursday and lasting into the Weekend.

As for our weather locally…
We have a front draped across Southern New England today…most of the area will be on the cool side of the boundary, meaning highs in the 60s and lots of clouds…there will be some showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms this evening, highest risk between 5-11pm.  The chances of severe are low in eastern MA, much higher in parts of western MA.  Cannot rule out a strong storm or two bringing some heavy rain and gusty winds locally.

Tuesday and Wednesday look fairly quiet…slight risk of a pop-up showers Tomorrow.Our next chance of any meaningful rain after tonight comes Thursday morning/midday.  The air behind that front will be our coolest of the season thus far…and what great timing!  The Autumnal Equinox arrives at 9:03pm, as the cold air is pouring in!

Friday, the first full day of Fall, will be windy and chilly…Weekend looks quiet with a warming trend.Got tickets for the Pats home opener?  Weather looks great!