RI Weather: Your Holiday Forecast

Weather Forecast & Discussion for Rhode Island on December 23, 2016

“The First Forty-Eight”

• Friday: Mostly sunny with highs in the middle 40’s. Winds coming from the WSW at 7-10 mph. Mostly cloudy skies Friday night, with lows in the lower 30’s.
• Saturday: Overcast with showers/rain arriving by 7 a.m. Precipitation ends after 8 p.m. Highs will be in the middle 40’s with SW winds at 10-14 mph.

Forecast Discussion:

Because of many people either travelling to or from the Ocean State, I decided to keep the forecast just to Christmas Day for this article. I will give a forecast discussion, then at the end I decided to leave forecasts for several U.S. cities people may be travelling to or into during Friday and Saturday.

At the moment, rain and wet snow showers have passed Rhode Island, thanks in part to a weak area of low pressure. The low will quickly move out to sea, so high pressure ridging can influence our weather. Skies will become clear this evening, with low temperatures hovering around freezing. The high’s center will move off into the Atlantic by Friday night. But, we will enjoy dry, sunny weather with mild temperatures. The mercury will reach the middle 40’s by the mid-afternoon. Skies will begin to see increasing clouds Friday night, in advance of a cold front quickly moving into the Ohio River Valley. Low temperatures will reach freezing.

Look for rain showers to begin by 7 a.m. Christmas Eve morning, as the precipitation makes its way out of Connecticut and into western Rhode Island. We will see light to moderate rain showers through the early afternoon, with the precipitation tapering off by the early evening. Look for highs to reach the middle to upper 40’s. By Christmas Eve night, skies will begin to clear, as a high pressure ridge begins to build over Southern New England. Any midnight masses will be go on as scheduled, and Santa should have no weather problems or delays getting the toys delivered. We will have partly cloudy skies, with low temperatures near freezing.

When we awaken Christmas morning, presents will be under the tree, and the sun will be shining. Look for high temperatures in the middle 40’s. We will remain dry Christmas night, with partly cloudy skies and lows in the upper 20’s. Right now, the outlook for Monday shows partly sunny skies in the morning, with some rain showers arriving by 6 p.m. High temperatures will be in the lower 40’s, with showers into Monday night.

Now, as promised, here’s a random list of cities across the country, and the weather forecast for the busiest travel days of Friday and Saturday.

City Friday’s Weather Saturday’s Weather

Boston, MA Sunny 43/33 Rain 45/33

Portland, ME Sunny 39/29 Snow to rain 41/31

Concord, NH Sunny 40/21 Snow to rain 39/29

Burlington, VT M. sunny 39/30 Snow to rain 39/30

Hartford, CT Sunny 42/31 Rain 41/30

New York, NY Sunny 48/38 Rain 51/35

Miami, FL P. sunny 80/72 P. sunny 81/72

Chicago, IL Wintry mix 35/31 M. cloudy 37/32

Denver, CO Sunny 49/25 Sunny 51/26

Portland, OR Rain 42/35 Snow/Rain 41/34

Los Angeles, CA M. cloudy 63/51 P. sunny 58/45

I just want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas, wherever you may be this Sunday. The normal forecast discussion is scheduled to return on Monday evening.

Jim Laurie is a local meteorologist who earned a B.S. in Meteorology at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, VT. Jim has fifteen years of professional experience, with eight years in the field of marine meteorology.