Heavy fog enveloped the Commonwealth today, thanks to the warmer air pushing in over a cold snowpack. Besides reducing visibilities, winter fog has another role in the weather cycle: it gobbles snow.
In some cases, fog can devour several inches in an overnight period. Lucky for the snow lovers, this fog won’t get the whole night to dine on our snowpack. A cold front is slicing through right now.
And another oddity has materialized on the weather maps this evening: thunderstorms. Wha? With temps in the 30s and 40s? Yep. They’re running on a different kind of fuel, that supplied by the upper atmosphere. Strange as it may sound, it’s warmer up there than down here. Nonetheless, these storms packed a punch as they rolled through (see picture to right). Spotters reported houses shaking, vivid lightning (reflecting off of the fog) and intense downpours. The reason for the intense thunder could have been a result of positive stroke lightning. These particular bolts come from the upper part of the cloud, and, because of the distance they must travel to the ground, carry a charge 6-10 times greater than a negative stroke lightning bolt (most common in summer). And yes, if you’re wondering, the higher charge makes them that much more deadly too.
Anyway, the storms part, the skies clear and the temps cool to near freezing by morning. Not a huge ice up (thanks to the fact that it takes until morning to get to freezing, and that means more time to dry), but some slick spots are possible by daybreak. It won’t take a thing away from the afternoon, though. Highs will be near 50!!
Sunday cools a little, but from Monday on, the REAL winter cold settles in. Storms that were seemingly out of reach yesterday, now loom large on our 7 day forecast….see Wednesday. At this point, most of the storm is offshore, and we get a glancing shot, but I’m suspect here. Stay tuned for more over the weekend.
Speaking of, enjoy it and the Closing Ceremonies.
Pete