Taking a page from Florida

Daily thunderstorms make snowbirds feel at home

Commuters dodged puddles near South Station after another rainstorm. Somerville was hit by hail yesterday. (TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

No, Bostonians, you haven't stumbled into Florida. The weather has just felt that way in the past week or so, when almost daily bursts of thunderstorms have interrupted otherwise tranquil, if humid, afternoons.

A pool of cold air hovering over south-central Canada, coupled with a hot and humid air mass over southern New England, have created the turbulent weather, said Charlie Foley, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton. A cold pocket above that humid air mass made the storms more severe, said his colleague, Rebecca Gould.

"It's fair to say we had basically a tropical air mass in place," Foley said. "It's not unusual to have thunderstorm activity in late-June or July, but to have the frequency we've had the last week to 10 days is." He added that the storms have been hit or miss, so some cities and towns have had occasional downpours.

Yesterday afternoon, Foley said, Somerville was hit by 1-inch hail, unusual for the region. And Braintree recorded 62-mile-per-hour winds. Heavy rain caused some urban flooding, Foley said.

A strong cold front should move through the region tonight, and if it keeps moving out to sea the holiday weekend should be relatively tranquil, with cooler temperatures expected, Foley said.

If it stalls over Southeastern Massachusetts, however, residents could be in for more Floridian weather.

NEIL MUNSHI