Mar 21, 2012 Brief Update

**The 5-Day Forecast page was not updated tonight. The next update to the 5-Day Forecast page will likely be on Thursday.**


Forecast Highlights:


- Record breaking warmth likely tomorrow again across parts of area
- Colder but still warmer than average temps through weekend
- Widespread moderate rain returns this weekend

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Record highs on Wednesday, March 21, 2012:


JFK Airport
65 degrees (previous record: 63 degrees - 1979)
Islip, NY
72 degrees (previous record: 60 degrees - 1995)
Bridgeport, CT
66 degrees (previous record: 61 degrees - 1959)

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Once again, temperatures were unseasonably warm across the region today, extending the record warmth that has affected the region over the last week and will continue through Friday. Temperatures today were colder than expected across the northern and western parts of the area; cloud cover was expected to clear up by the late morning to early afternoon hours, but the cloud cover never cleared; cloudy skies covered most of the area throughout the day, even becoming more widespread in the afternoon hours. As a result, temperatures ended up in the mid 60s to lower 70s across the entire area. In comparison, central and northern parts of New England, even close to the Canadian border, got up to nearly 85 degrees, which easily shattered records across the region.


Tomorrow's Outlook:

Tomorrow is still likely to be the warmest day of this warm spell at least according to the latest indications. The widespread fog building in tonight is currently likely to burn off by at least 10-11 AM, with temperatures quickly warming up afterwards, reaching the upper 70s to lower 80s north and west of NYC (parts of N NJ and SE NY in the map to the left may pass 80 degrees), mid to upper 70s in NYC, and upper 60s to mid 70s across the rest of the area. As today's forecast was too warm due to more clouds than expected, tomorrow's forecast also depends on the cloud cover; should the clouds persist beyond 12 PM, highs will likely struggle to pass 75 degrees across most of the area.


Forecast Overview:


- Friday will slightly cool down but remain unseasonably mild, with highs reaching the mid to upper 70s west and SW of NYC and the upper 60s to mid 70s across the rest of the area. A back door cold front may result in isolated showers/thunderstorms in the afternoon hours, which will bring in a colder air mass for the weekend, keeping highs in the 50s for most of, if not all of the area for Saturday and Sunday.

- There is still some uncertainty with the timing and location of the approaching cutoff low, but wherever it does end up, the potential is there for up to or possibly slightly over 1 inch of rain. At this time, I am expecting moderate periods of rain for Saturday night into Sunday with 1/2 to 1 inch of rain possible, but the forecast is still subject to some changes.

- Temperatures next week will remain much colder than those of this week but still not quite colder than average, likely staying in the 50s to lower 60s for highs and the 30s to lower 40s for lows. The next storm is possible towards next Wednesday/Thursday, with some rain possible and temperatures possibly warming up into the 60s for a day or two.