What a beautiful morning. It’s warm and the sunshine is abundant. Over the next week to 10 days I think it will be important to take advantage of the morning as the chance for rain will increase in the afternoon.

I'll be updating the details of the July 4th forecast on Twitter at @growingwisdom Please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Summer officially arrived just after 1 AM Friday along the east coast and this means that the sun has now reached its highest point in the sky for the year. The kids may still be in school, but the days lose a few seconds of daylight from now until just before Christmas.

I'll be updating the details of the forecast on Twitter at @growingwisdom Please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Knowing we have 3 to 4 days of heat on the way, you can’t imagine how exciting it is to a gardener to hear the sound of rain at 5AM. Bleary eyed I ran to my computer to check the radar hoping the extent of the showers was large and that the rain wouldn't end quickly. Much to my delight my garden got over a quarter inch of rain this morning and more showers are likely later today and this evening.

I'll be updating details on the upcoming heat on Twitter at @growingwisdom Please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Tornado on the ground! The past several days have seen many tornadoes in the nations heartland. Today, we saw the deadliest outbreak of the year. Here in southern New England tornadoes are not a common occurrence, however we do get them. The last major outbreak of tornadoes locally was back in June of 2011 when a tornado ripped through Springfield and surrounding communities. Relatively speaking most of the northeast, especially the coast, has fewer thunderstorms than inland areas. The map above shows the average number of thunderstorms per year across the country. Notice the dramatic drop in thunderstorms near both coasts. Without the big thunderstorms, we don't get tornadoes. However, they do occur and when they do, it can be quite harrowing if you are in one.

What a morning. Did you get a chance to notice just how amazing the start of this day was? I know that rushing around getting ready for work, getting the kids out the door, and all the other hecticness of the morning doesn’t leave much time to appreciate spring.

I'll be updating the forecast throughout the week on Twitter at @growingwisdom Please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

I think I heard a collective groan this morning when folks realized the day was going to feel more like early March than a week before May. The good news is the cold chilly weather isn’t going to last that long and by tomorrow afternoon most of you will get to enjoy sunshine and temperatures 20 degrees warmer than today. We have all seen springs where these raw days last for a week or more so having one of these kind of days isn’t so bad.

I'll be the forecast into the weekend on Twitter at @growingwisdom Please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

This afternoon is going to feel more like what you would expect for early April with temperatures getting back into the 50s and that gusty wind no longer a factor. Although there will still be a breeze, today’s breeze is going to be coming from a southwest direction and since the air to our southwest is milder so too will be temperatures. Abundant sunshine will make this a pleasant day all around. The map below gives a good idea of temperatures around 2PM today.

I'll be updating the forecast on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

The end of March is fast approaching and when it’s over, this month will go down in the record books as a cold and snowy one. The good news is the lamb will indeed lead us into April this year. You probably noticed a lot of clouds around the area the past couple of days and today will continue that trend. A weak bit of energy will rotate through the area during the day and this will produce periods of clouds with just the risk of a shower. Any rain that falls will be light and not last long.

I'll be updating more forecast information on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

You might have noticed your car was quite warm inside if you parked in the sun this weekend. The sun drives the weather and the sun is getting stronger this time of the year, really fast. Since the beginning on the month the sun has risen about 10 degrees higher at noon. To put that in context, the sun is now a full 25 degrees higher around lunch than it was back in December. If you don’t remember your geometry, a sun directly overhead at noon would be at 90 degrees, today the sun will reach 50 degrees above the horizon. (Due to daylight saving time it’s actually 1 PM). Besides the fact this is why it is getting warmer, it’s also why any snow that falls during the day this time of year is almost impossible to stick.I'll be updating my weather forecast with any changes to the coastal storm on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

The snow has been falling since it got dark and will continue to fall at various intensities overnight. The map below shows about how much more snow on average will fall in general areas the rest of the night through sunrise. Figure anywhere from 2 to 5 more inches with less on the shore. I expect the heaviest amounts to be in the same areas that saw heavy snow this morning. Sharon, Brockton, Walpole, Foxboro and surrounding towns will end up with the most amount of snow from this two day storm. I'll be updating my weather forecasts on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there.