Northeast warmer Tuesday into Wednesday, then cooler for a day or two

The show doesn't last long but when the sun shines on the bottoms of the clouds before sunrise and after sunset, it can be beautiful.

The picture above shows cloudiness over New York and Pennsylvania with thicker clouds farther out across the Midwest. Where is that large area of cloudiness going? The first map (for today) below shows there is a fair amount of shower and thunderstorm activity associated with the Midwest clouds. Only spotty showers accompanied the eastern clouds.

This forecast map for Tuesday afternoon suggests virtually all of the Midwestern rain will pass north of the Ohio Valley and Middle Atlantic states. This will allow a southwesterly flow of warmer air to become established and then last to Wednesday.

However, the forecast path for Wednesday evening shows cooler air pressing southward through New York state and New England and showers developing at the leading edge of this new air mass. This leading edge, the cold front, seems likely to stall south of Pennsylvania and not return northward until Friday. If this is right, there can be showers in the Middle Atlantic states Thursday and perhaps Friday. On Friday night, another cold front is likely to be moving eastward across the Midwest .

However, the forecast map for Saturday suggests the showers and thunderstorms associated with that cold front will largely die out as they reach the Appalachians.