Beautiful, dry weather continued in Southern New England on Wednesday. Highs were in the upper 70s to low 80s with bright white clouds dotting a deep blue sky. Dew points moved from the 50s to low 60s near the coast when the wind turned onshore in the afternoon, but it was by no means humid. Wednesday night looks mainly clear to partly cloudy with lows in the low to mid 60s – just about normal for early-August.
Thursday will be partly sunny through midday, with clouds closing in during the afternoon. Showers and thunderstorms are possible by late in the day, and they should become widespread at night. Heavy downpours are possible as the vigorous system passes Southern New England. The temperature will be in the 60s Thursday night with a southerly wind at 15-25 mph. There may be some 30-35 mph gusts near the coast.
The bulk of the rain will end by 8 am Friday, and sunshine should break through by midday. A disturbance trailing the storm could trigger scattered showers or thundershowers on Friday afternoon. It will be warm and turn less humid during the afternoon. The dew point will fall from the mid 60s to around 60 by late in the day.
The first weekend of August looks mainly dry and seasonably cool. Saturday will be partly cloudy with the chance of an afternoon shower. Highs will be in the mid to upper 70s. Sunday will start out sunny, but clouds will develop, and an afternoon shower or thunderstorm may pop up – especially away from the coast. Once again, highs will be in the mid to upper 70s.
The outlook for early next week is for nice weather Monday and Tuesday, and the chance of showers by midweek. On the heels of the hottest month on record in Providence, there is not much humidity or hot weather in the forecast for early-August. Highs will range from the mid 70s to low 80s.