Mild, Rainy St. Patrick's Day, 70s for Some on Friday

A push of warmer and more moist air Thursday brought pockets of dense fog for much of southern New England, and while that fog will tend to thin over the course of the day, it will be replaced by expanding rain showers from south to north, across southern to central New England through afternoon. 

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Rain will fall periodically through Thursday evening into the first half of the night as pockets of fog redevelop with a light wind and drizzle will linger in spots after the rain ships out to the east around midnight. 

Lingering low-altitude clouds, drizzle and patches of fog will burn off Friday, yielding to mostly sunny skies by midday through afternoon, working on the mild air left behind by Thursday’s storm system and boosting temperatures into the 60s and lower 70s.  Boston’s record warm high for Friday is 74 degrees, and while the city is unlikely to break that, even Logan Airport will rise to near 70 before a sea breeze develops along our coastlines. 

Our next storm system crosses southern New England Saturday with a swath of rain that may start as a brief burst of snow in the North Country mountains that may drop one to three inches in the higher terrain while the rest of New England sees around half an inch – not heavy rain, but enough to keep the ground soft, regionwide. As the storm strengthens and pulls northeast of New England on Sunday, some scattered showers will still be possible in northern New England, but central and southern New England will see sunshine emerging through the clouds for a breezy and pleasant day, meaning a great afternoon is expected for the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade. 

Dry and slightly cooler air should stick around early next week before the next system – also a rainmaker for most – arrives in the second half of the week but should depart in time for the weekend if our exclusive 10-day forecast holds.