30 January, 2013
The National Weather Service in Taunton has provided the following forecast information about a cold front that will pass through the area on Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning. The storm may cause strong damaging winds, locally heavy rainfall, dense fog and high seas.
This information is being provided for informational purposes. MEMA will continue to monitor and expects to remain at Level IV (Steady-State).
From the National Weather Service in Taunton:
A very strong cold front will be approaching southern New England Wednesday afternoon and evening, then pushing off the coast by Thursday morning. A variety of nasty weather can be expected:
- POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINDS POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY EVENING. A High Wind Watch has been posted for the Rhode Island and southeast MA coasts. Sustained winds of 30-40 mph with gusts to 50 to 60 mph are possible. Meteorologically, winds just above the surface will be even stronger than that, but because of stability very near the ground, it may take a line of strong showers or a thunderstorm to cause any damaging winds to reach the ground.
- LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR. With winds screaming from the SSW at 80-90 mph at only 2000 ft above ground level, pilots should be aware that very severe low level wind shear will occur Wednesday evening and through Wed. night in RI, eastern MA, and southeast NH.
- LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL of 1 to 2 inches is possible, especially in western MA and central MA, northern CT, and possibly southwest NH. While this is not expected to cause flooding of streams, it may cause local ponding of water in poor drainage areas.
- DENSE FOG. This is a possibility Wednesday and Wednesday night. Warm temperatures in the 50s, with dew point temperatures near 50 traversing the colder waters south of New England could make for areas of dense fog.
- THUNDER. An isolated thunderstorm cannot be ruled out from Wednesday afternoon through Wednesday night.
- HIGH SEAS. A Storm Watch has been posted for the coastal waters south of Nantucket and east of Cape Cod; Gale Watch elsewhere for the coastal waters. The exception is Boston Harbor, where winds may only gust to 30 knots - - that will be watched closely in case it needs to be upped to a Gale Watch or Warning. Winds may gust to 50 knots over the waters south of Nantucket and east of Cape Cod, and seas could reach 12-16 feet in those areas.
For additional information, visit:
National Weather Service (Taunton): www.weather.gov/boston
National Weather Service (Albany): www.weather.gov/albany
P. Kenneth Clark
Chief of Department
Hopkinton Fire Department
Town of Hopkinton Emergency Management Director
