Weather for New England and the Northeast

Skies were mostly clear here in Peterborough, NH this morning. A comfortable 59 degrees with a dew point temp at 59 as well. All of that begins to change today as warmer, more humid air begins to enter our region. Very warm and humid weather is expected through the end of the week, and into the weekend. Daily afternoon thunderstorm chances as well, making the next seven days feel pretty much like the beginning of August.

Warm, increasingly humid weather will continue across the region through the rest of the week as high pressure remains in control. The hottest days are expected on Thursday and Friday, with many locations south of the mountains reaching the upper 80s to lower 90s. Beginning Thursday and continuing into the weekend, higher humidity will lead to a daily chance of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms, although not everyone will see rain each day. A cold front arriving this weekend is expected to bring the best chance for more widespread showers and storms before slightly cooler temperatures return early next week.

From the Weather Channel:
You're not imagining it: This summer's wildfire season in the Northwest is already much worse than usual. Since the first of the year, Oregon and Washington alone have seen 58 large fires burn more than 1.8 million acres. For context, the five-year average at this point in the year is 49 large fires and around 526,000 acres, meaning these two states are already well beyond three times worse than what they've seen in recent years.
Of course, experts have been warning about this since last winter, when the West saw much less snow than usual. Since then, we've seen all the ingredients for a regionwide disaster fall like dominoes. First, the warmest March ever recorded in our country melted a huge dent in the meager snowpack. This left forests and rangeland desiccated by midsummer, when two separate lightning outbreaks in July ignited dozens of fires, many in central Oregon. Most recently, heat and drought prompted a statewide emergency declaration in Washington. And then the wind arrived, turning a bad season into an emergency.

It came from the north late last week. A strong storm tracked across British Columbia and Alberta, its southern edge raking the Pacific Northwest with gusts of 35 to 50 mph, and even higher across the mountains of eastern Washington. Seeing it coming, forecasters reached for language they'd never used before, attaching a "particularly dangerous situation" tag to Saturday's red flag warning for eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. It was the first time that phrasing has ever appeared in either state.
By Saturday afternoon, the warning had verified in Spokane County, where fires jumped the Spokane River and tore into neighborhoods. Three blazes destroyed hundreds of structures, forced some 60,000 people from their homes, and remained completely uncontained through Sunday.
Fire weather conditions are expected to worsen later this week, leaving exhausted firefighters little time to try to control the region's raging infernos. Meanwhile, the wind has shifted, billowing toxic ground-level smoke to the highly populated western parts of both Washington and Oregon. Expect air quality in the code orange range (unhealthy for sensitive groups) with stretches of code red (unhealthy for everyone), especially in western Oregon. If you have asthma, heart or lung conditions, or young kids at home, this is a good day to close the windows, run a filter if you have one, and move the workout indoors. Check your air quality here, and remember: Those N95 masks you might still have lying around can be an important protection against breathing in tiny toxic particles.

Check out the enhanced "Todays Weather at a Glance" section above.
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Latest site updates and additions:

Find the August Almanac Here
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