Tropical storm Ophelia makes landfall, brings windy & wet weekend to New England

Ophelia made landfall after 6am this morning in North Carolina. While it’s still miles away, the rain bands stretch up all the way to New England and aim to keep providing period of rain accompanied by gusty northeast winds as well as cooler-than normal temperatures.

The rain will continue into Monday morning before gradually tapering off. Afterward, a drying trend will set in for the rest of the week as a large high-pressure system wind the battle and extends from Quebec into New England.

Today, the heaviest rainfall is expected over southeast Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and the Islands, while areas further north may experience lighter rain or mainly dry.

Some isolated thunderstorms are also possible over the Islands. Windy conditions with gusts of 25-35 mph are expected over the Islands and immediate south coast with the strongest winds this evening up to 50 mph near Nantucket.

Rain and drizzle will persist tonight, particularly over the Cape and Islands, but the intensity of rainfall will diminish as the low-level jet weakens. Sunday will bring another round of rain and showers as remnants of Ophelia move northward along the mid-Atlantic coast.

We’ll likely see a wider extent to the rainfall coverage with this second round that may also stretch up into New Hampshire and southern ME.

Sunday night into early Monday will bring steady rain to southern New England, followed by a dry finish to Monday. During the early part of the week, this high-pressure system will bring October-like weather conditions, with daytime highs ranging from 60 to 65 degrees and nighttime lows in the 40s.

As the week progresses, the airmass will slowly warm, with temperatures approaching 70 degrees later in the week.