Several unsettled days ahead, but great weekend

Let's start with a look at the weather map this morning. On the map, you can see the front that is stuck near us today. When fronts are stuck, they are drawn in alternating red and blue. Cold fronts are normally blue and warm fronts are red. A stationary front is done in both colors; basically, it can't make up its mind. The other element on the map to notice is the rain area to our south. This area, a low pressure system (L), is going to slowly move along the front.

Lows like to ride along temperature boundaries, like our stalled front. That's why in winter, snowstorms ride up the coast. During the winter, they hug the warm ocean area and the cold air moving in from Canada.

Back to our storm this week: Initially, the front will be too far west to give us much rainfall. However, as each hour goes by today and especially Tuesday, the front will move a few more miles east. At the same time, the rain area will continue to move along the front. Eventually, the rain area will envelop New England, first to the west, and last over the Cape.

The image below shows the progress of the rain area according to one of the computer models. I have circled the rain area. Notice that each day it moves closer and closer to eastern New England. Also, this area is slow to move. Therefore, it will take awhile to start and a long time to leave.

Any sunshine?
I actually expect much of today and even the first part of Tuesday to only see a few showers. Today, you will even see some sun peeking through the clouds from time to time.

Temperatures over the next three days look to be in the upper 60s to very low 70s. You will also notice a touch of humidity in the air. It will feel muggy on the eastern side, our side, of the front.

Thursday through this weekend
The good news is that after the rain end Wednesday pm, our weather looks spectacular for many days. Starting Thursday, we enter a four day stretch of fantastic weather with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. If we have to have all this cloudy weather, at least it's not coming on the weekend. Look for many updates to come and follow me on Twitter for instant updates and garden tips.

Gardening tip this week
Do you have a pole, house, road, or neighbor you would like to block? In this video, I show you how I used a variety of trees to help screen the road for this client. They loved it; I hope you do, too.