Mar 30: Heavy Rain Ending, Records Broken

The worst part of the storm ended up arriving later than I originally expected, in the morning to late morning hours instead of the late overnight to early morning hours. Despite the timing, the storm still had the same effects, with an additional 1-4 inches of rain falling across the area, and the heaviest amounts falling over Long Island and Connecticut.

For the short term, areas of light rain with occasional moderate to heavy rain are expected to move through the area, with additional rainfall until this evening up to 1/4 inch, with locally higher amounts. Afterwards, cloudy skies are expected until tomorrow with an occasional rain shower.

Wettest March On Record

Today's storm is the third significant rainstorm this month to affect the area, after March 12-15 and March 22-23. With this storm added to the rain totals so far this month, parts of the New York City area have broken their records for the wettest March on record, including JFK and La Guardia airports in New York, Islip in Long Island, and Bridgeport in Connecticut. Central Park is at least 0.3 inch of rain away from breaking their record of 10.54 inches.

The stormy pattern this month continued the active pattern from February, when consistent heavy snowstorms set the record for the snowiest February and the snowiest month on record, though unlike February, the precipitation fell in the form of rain, not snow.

Fortunately, for areas that were hit hard with flooding, the stormy pattern is ending for now with this storm. After the storm exits, a high pressure stays near the area, with no significant rainfall expected in the next 7-10 days.

Weekend, Next Week Forecast

It now appears that the warm spell will not be as warm as I originally expected it to be, with high temperatures generally in the mid to upper 70s, not the upper 70s to lower 80s, and the warmest day being Saturday, not Sunday. My Short Term Forecast, now extended to 5 days, shows high temperatures in the 70s this weekend, peaking on Saturday in the mid to upper 70s.

Temperatures start cooling down early next week, with Monday's highs in the upper 60s. A weak cold front moves through on Tuesday with scattered rain showers, with the high temperatures in the lower to mid 60s. On Wednesday, temperatures should start to warm up again, reaching the mid to upper 60s.