RI Weather: A Passing Shower Sunday; Scattered Snow Showers Tuesday, Wednesday

Weather Forecast & Discussion for Rhode Island on January 29, 2017

“The First Forty-Eight”

• Sunday: Mostly cloudy skies by the morning, with the risk for passing showers through the afternoon. Highs will be in the lower 40’s, with WSW winds of 9-13 mph. Partly cloudy skies during the overnight, with lows in the middle 20’s.
• Monday: Partly sunny skies with highs in the upper 30’s and winds from the NW at 8-11 mph. Clear skies Monday night, with lows near 20.

Forecast Discussion:

At the moment, a very strong low pressure system is centered over the Canadian Maritimes. Although that is a great distance away from the Ocean State, the low still continues to influence our weather. The west winds we are receiving is helping to take moisture off the Great Lakes, and move it over New England. This is why we are under mostly cloudy skies as of Saturday afternoon.

We will see some of the moisture move offshore, allowing for partly cloudy skies tonight. Look for lows tonight in the upper 20’s. We begin a new week on Sunday with another weak area of low pressure move over northern New York. We will return to mostly cloudy skies by the mid-morning, with passing showers expected during the afternoon. The disturbance moves offshore by the evening, when we return to partly cloudy skies. Look for lows in the middle 20’s. For Monday, it appears the computer models are in better agreement than my previous article. Both the American and European models believe a low pressure system will form well southeast of Rhode Island in the ocean. But, we will not be receiving any precipitation from this low. So, we will see partly sunny skies with highs in the middle 30’s. Skies will clear up Monday night, as we have a ridge axis directly over us during the time period. Low temperatures will fall to near 20 degrees.

We will begin to see increasing clouds before sunrise Tuesday morning, as moisture comes back into New England ahead of an Alberta Clipper. We may see some snow showers before noon. A broad area of low pressure will remain over New England into Wednesday morning. So, we may see scattered snow showers during this timeframe. Accumulations appear to be light at the moment, with at most 3 inches of snowfall, probably along eastern Massachusetts, the Cape, and Islands. The snowfall will end by the afternoon on Wednesday. Look for highs Tuesday to be in the middle 30’s, with lows in the upper 20’s. If there any remaining snow showers Wednesday, skies will become partly sunny by the afternoon, with highs in the upper 30’s. Skies will become partly cloudy by Wednesday night, with lows in the middle 20’s.

We will see partly to mostly sunny skies on Thursday, although we might see some late afternoon snow showers, as a weak disturbance quickly passes over New England. Highs will only reach the middle 30’s. Weak high pressure ridging will build over us Thursday night, giving us clear skies and lows in the lower 20’s. The rest of the week looks dry, with mostly sunny skies Friday and Saturday. Highs on both days will be in the lower 30’s, with overnight lows in the upper teens. Looking ahead to Super Bowl Sunday, we will see partly sunny skies with highs in the lower 30’s. Meanwhile, the Patriots will be in Houston, which may see some rain when the game kicks off. However, because Reliant Stadium is a domed stadium, weather will not be a factor.

Jim Laurie is a local meteorologist who earned a B.S. in Meteorology at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, VT. Jim has fifteen years of professional experience, with eight years in the field of marine meteorology.