Storm Update

Wednesday Morning - A quick update:

1. The snow - we picked up about 2 inches of snow around the region last night. It looked impressive for a couple of hours as temperatures were holding in the mid and upper 20s and snow was falling steadily from that initial burst of precipitation. From a forecast standpoint It had me worried for a time that we might end up closer to 4" of snow due to how cold it was at the onset of the snow. But thankfully, the milder air came sweeping in as it was supposed to do. Here's a look at the temperatures in Falmouth last night from 11PM to 7AM - notice the remarkable overnight temperature rise:

• 11PM 23°F
• 1 AM 27°F
• 3 AM 30°F
• 5 AM 36°F
• 7 AM 43°F

2. Rainfall today - The warm front lifted north of the region this morning and carried the initial surge of precipitation north of the Cape. However, despite the quiet start, there's plenty of rain to our south that will ride northward up the coast and onto the Cape late this morning, continuing through the afternoon. Just look at the water vapor image on the radar/satellite page and you can see the train of moisture running down the Eastern Seaboard, past Florida and into the Bahamas. There's a deep tap of warm, moist air for this system to work with and plenty of water will be rung out over New England today. The strong south wind we have here at the ground is nothing compared to what's going on just a few thousand feet above our heads, where southerly winds are blowing at 70 mph, transporting all of this moisture up the coast. When all is set and done, expect a solid one to two inches of rain across the Cape.

3. Temperatures - Early in the week (see below) I mentioned that between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning Hyannis might see a 35°F temperature rise (from 15°F to 50°F). The Tuesday AM low at Hyannis did indeed end up at 15°F and I imagine it will hit 50°F before noontime today. (Buoy observations south of New England show surface temperatures approaching 50 early this morning despite water temps. near 40°F) We might in the end see a 38°F to 40°F temperature rise out of this system. Quite impressive.

4. The Wind - It's hard not to notice the screaming southerly wind this morning. The strong winds are a result of a powerful low level southerly jet stream racing up the coast. The 12z sounding from Chatham shows a 60 knot southerly wind at 925 mb. While we don't have to worry about winds of that magnitude, we should expect gusts to reach 45 mph through the day today, with sustained speeds averaging between 15 and 30 mph.