Ok let's just get this out of the way: The holiday weekend forecast was a swing and miss. As a pre-teen weather weenie, still in my formative nerd years, it annoyed me when the TV meteorologist missed a forecast and just ignored it...I vowed to never do that "when I grew up." So yeah, we got back-door-cold-fronted on Friday, front door troughed on Sunday and overall didn't have the best days at the office so to speak. It happens to the best of us (and in this case seemed to happen to every station in Maine. Sidenote: I was out of the state from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon and somehow I still end up being the one to apologize haha ), all you can do is see if there is anything to learn and move on...it's part of the job.
Speaking of moving on...
Enjoy the nice weather for the next few hours or so because a very wet period is coming up for Tuesday night/Wednesday as the very-much-changed remnants of Isaac move into Maine.
Tonight: Pretty quiet. We will start mostly clear but end up partly cloudy as some clouds filter in from the west and southwest. Overnight lows will be reasonable, between 55-60 F.
Tuesday: A warm front associated with the moisture left over from Isaac will be slowly pushing towards Maine through the day. HOWEVER it doesn't look like the boundary will actually arrive until late in the afternoon or the early evening. As a result there could be a good deal of sunshine through the first half of the day as temperatures climb into the 70s. After 2 PM look for rapidly increasing clouds, however, and the chance for some showers over southern and southwestern Maine. The further north and east you head-the better chance the day light hours on Tuesday will remain dry. What I'm trying to say here (but I'm wasting many words) is Tuesday won't be that bad of a day because the rain won't arrive until the evening.
Tuesday Night: The front parks itself over Maine and some heavy rain commences. As I mentioned before, this moisture has its roots in Isaac, although it's clearly been a while since any real wind field was associated with the remnants of the tropical system. The net result will be more "available moisture" than is typical in your standard rain storm in the Northeast. I expect the heaviest downpours between midnight and 6 AM, leading to some localized flooding. The key here is exactly where the warm front sets up and stalls. Most computer models have it along the coastline, which I buy based on past experience in this kind of setup.
Wednesday: Rain continues, especially heavy in the morning. The axis of heaviest rain may slowly shift northward through the day, meaning Downeast will be dealing with the heaviest downpours by the afternoon. No matter how you slice it we are looking at a wet day with temperatures staying in the 60s and low 70s. The storm finally pulls out on Wednesday night but not before dropping total rainfall amounts between 2"-4" with locally higher amounts along the coastline. We will watch the region for flooding, we haven't had significant rain lately so that should help the area absorb a good deal before major flooding issues arise.
We should go back to some pleasant weather on Thursday as a weak ridge of high pressure builds in. There might be a stray shower on Friday afternoon as a cold front moves through, but overall we should remain mostly dry from Thursday through Saturday with temperatures in the mid 70s.
Let's talk about Leslie: You will probably read national headlines like "Leslie an East Coast Threat?!?" over the next few days. Truth is Leslie is a tropical storm just meandering around the Atlantic right now very far from land. With weak steering flow she is expected to take until Sunday to even reach Bermuda. Strengthening is anticipated so Leslie will likely become a hurricane by Thursday morning.
So is it a threat to the Northeast? Not really. Some computers are pushing the hurricane into our area in the 10 day range (that's what is causing the buzz) but I'm not buying it. I've just simply NEVER seen a hurricane EAST of Bermuda and north of Miami curve back to the United States and ultimately make a landfall. Could she come close enough to create swells and nervous weathermen? Sure. But a landfall seems very doubtful as every cold front pushing offshore over the Eastern Seaboard will act to deflect her back to sea. I'll watch it for you, it's the right thing to do...but I'm not concerned.
We can be friends on Facebook as long as you can deal with me referring to a dog as a "fur baby."