This week began with some beautiful Boston weather, but unfortunately, it won’t last long. The remnants of Hurricane Florence are set to drop some intense rain on the region, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane Florence made landfall on Friday, slamming the Carolinas with torrential rain and intense winds. The 350-mile-wide storm left as many as 2.5 million North Carolina residents without power and lead to 17 deaths.
Now downgraded to a tropical depression, Florence is weakening as a storm system. But it’s moving up the East Coast and still bringing some unruly weather with it, forecasters say.
How will Hurricane Florence remnants affect Boston weather?
The remnants of Hurricane Florence are expected to bring heavy rain to the Boston area late Monday night into Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
“We’re expecting widespread rain, probably 1 to 3 inches, with northern Massachusetts — north of the Mass Pike, really — seeing the most rainfall, around up to 3 inches,” said Lenore Correia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Boston office. “The southern coast of New England will probably see 1 inch.”
With that heavy rain comes the threat of flash floods, Correia said. The weather service has issued a flash flood watch for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island that will be in effect through late Tuesday night.
“Our main concern is in urban areas with poor drainage because of the asphalt. Asphalt isn’t going to absorb water, so we could see ponding on roadways,” Correia said. “Another thing is because we’ve seen so much rain recently, some of the soil could be so saturated that it won’t be able to absorb as much,” thus leading to more flooding.
Boston weather has been pretty wet recently. The area saw 1 to 2 inches above normal rainfall levels this summer, and that is carrying over into the fall season, Correia explained, meaning the ground may not be able to soak up much of this heavy rain to come from the Hurricane Florence storm system.
Forecasters are warning residents to be extra careful on their Tuesday commutes in both the morning and evening due to the expected Boston weather. Heavy rain could impact visibility, Correia said, and the pooling of water on the roads could be dangerous for hydroplaning.
The rain from the Hurricane Florence storm system is expected to taper off Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. After that, Boston weather might still be a bit gloomy on Wednesday, with forecasters predicting a high of 67 degrees with mostly cloudy skies. By Thursday things will brighten up a bit, but a brief chance of showers could return late Friday night.
