May misery for Northeast as a chilly rainstorm unfolds
While the Memorial Day weekend will gradually dry out in much of the Northeast, many areas will be thoroughly drenched as a rainstorm crawls through the region into Thursday night.
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As if the Northeast hasn't received enough rain lately, a rainstorm will drench the region into Friday and will evolve into a May nor'easter for New England. AccuWeather meteorologists say Memorial Day weekend won't exactly feel like the unofficial start of summer.
Despite areas of significant drought heading into May, many areas have already received more than an entire month's worth of rain just past the midway point. Some areas in the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic even flipped from drought to flash flooding in the past week or so.
The nor'easter will dump inches of rain in some locations.
Through Thursday night, a general 1-2 inches of rain is forecast with higher amounts in parts of western Pennsylvania, western Maryland and northeastern West Virginia, as well as in southeastern New England. When the storm wraps up by the end of the week, some areas may have double the historical average rainfall for this month. However, this does not mean it will pour constantly for two days, but rather the rain will vary in intensity. Sometimes there may just be some misty drizzle and other times it may rain hard.
Those with outdoor plans or travel in mind should expect periodic wet conditions through Thursday night.
The combination of rain and air from the Atlantic will create conditions more typical of late March or early April with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures in the 40s and 50s F for many areas.
As the rainstorm focuses more on New England Thursday, AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures will dip even lower over portions of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and northern Connecticut. It will feel more like the 30s in much of this area.
The combination of the rain, wind and cool air from the ocean will create the raw conditions in the Northeast. Winds from the east and northeast will average 30-40 mph along the coast with locally higher gusts. In a true nor'easter fashion, gusts from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, northward to Maine, can reach as high as 60 mph.
The same winds off the ocean will also push tide levels up to the point where minor flooding can occur during times of high tide, along with minor beach erosion.
The slow movement of the storm and sluggish northward advancement of the rain initially may allow downpours to hold off until Thursday night in northern areas.
It is also conceivable that the air will get chilly enough to allow some wet snow to fall on the highest ridges and peaks of northern New England, such as Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and perhaps Mount Mansfield, Vermont.
The slow-moving storm will finally begin to break up on Friday, and it's possible that some areas along Interstate 95 in the mid-Atlantic will be free of rain for a couple of days. Some showers are still anticipated farther west over the Appalachians, around the eastern Great Lakes, and across much of New England Friday—and likely Saturday as well.
The most likely time for a stretch of rain-free conditions in these rainstorm-targeted areas will be from Sunday to Monday. That's a bit of good news for outdoor Memorial Day ceremonies, parades and gatherings.
However, even then, the atmosphere could still whip up spotty showers, due to unusually cold air higher up in the atmosphere. That same setup will continue the chilly overall conditions in the region, even where it rains little or not at all.
On Monday, a storm from the South Central states may begin to encroach on portions of the central Appalachians and part of the mid-Atlantic region with yet more rain.
The sun and sand will feel warm at the beaches this weekend, but the water is cold enough to provide a dangerous shock this time of year. Surf temperatures are generally in the 50s and 60s.
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