MELTDOWN?
On heels of last week’s snowstorm, rapid warming and heavy rains could cause flooding in some local areas
Residents in our area will be aboard Mother Nature’s roller coaster to end the week, as temperatures will take a ride up a steep slope today before diving back down on Saturday night – but not without some twists thrown in there.
Stephanie Dunten, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said that strong southwesterly winds today will help to elevate temperatures into the high 50s and potentially low 60s. Today’s high could even take a run at the record of 61 set back in 1975.
A day in the 60s, Dunten said, “will feel quite lovely considering how cold its been lately.” But as lovely as the temperatures will feel, the conditions will help to ugly up the day.
Winds could gust to 45 miles per hour, causing lingering tree limbs to fall, which Dunten said could lead to some isolated power outages. Additionally, widespread rain of two to three inches – and, in some areas, up to four inches – will arrive this morning. The rain will be heaviest during the afternoon and evening, causing “some slowdowns” in the evening commute, Dunten added.
“There will be a break but it looks like several rounds of heavy rain Friday night into early Saturday...” she said. “It’s definitely not something to go out and enjoy.”
The combination of melting snow and heavy rain could also lead to flooding. Dunten said that’s “one of our biggest concerns now,” as areas prone to flooding in poor drainage or urban locations have a “good shot” at seeing the possibility of flooding.
The region’s flirtation with springtime temperatures will be more temporary than anything longstanding, though, as a potent cold air mass will invade the area during the day Saturday. The day’s high temperatures will likely peak at midnight, when it will still be in the upper 50s, but the mercury will plummet over the course of the daytime hours, dropping nearly 30 degrees to the low 30s by the afternoon.
That type of sudden change in temperature, Dunten said, could lead to a flash freeze where any lingering water from the melting snow or Friday’s rains
could suddenly chill to form black ice on roads and sidewalks.
Additionally, any region with precipitation in the afternoon could transition to freezing rain, although Dunten said that’s more likely to be seen closer to Connecticut and into the hills of Massachusetts than in Rhode Island. But, she said, the possibility cannot be entirely ruled out.
For the football fanatics who’ll be attending Saturday night’s playoff matchup be- tween the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium, Dunten advises donning some additional layers underneath those Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski jerseys.
The tailgating fans will need to rely on the warmth of their grills on Saturday evening, as there exists the possibility for spotty freezing rain during the late afternoon or evening hours as temperatures will still be falling.
Once the ball is teed up and kicked off from the gridiron around 8:15 Saturday night, any lingering precipitation should be gone. In its wake, though, will be chilly conditions with temperatures in the low 20s that could dip into the teens by the final whistle.
While it’ll be chilly and raw, Dunten says that winds shouldn’t be blowing and thus wind chills aren’t expected to be much of an issue.
The cool temperatures continue on Sunday and Monday of next week, with daytime highs only in the mid- to upper-20s.
“Back to winter we go,” Dunten said.