On Friday Hurricane Delta becomes the tenth named storm and fifth hurricane to hit the United States this year. That is a record number of named storms hitting the U.S. in a given year, breaking the old record set in 1916. The last time five hurricanes hit the U.S. in the same year was in 2005. The storm will weaken quickly after hammering the Louisiana coast with wind, rain and storm surge. The remnants of the storm will bring much-needed rain to Southern New England early next week.
The weekend looks mainly or all dry before a decaying Delta gets scooped up by a cold front and sent south of New England early next week. Expect rain on Monday, and showers may linger through Tuesday morning – especially in RI and SE MA.
It looks like most or all of Southern New England will get at least an inch of rain early next week. Dry weather is likely in the midweek before a cold front brings a shower threat late in the week.
The rain is a welcome sight as an extreme drought continues throughout Southeastern New England. All of RI and SE MA remain in an extreme drought, and those conditions have expanded to include all of eastern CT and a big chunk of Tolland and Hartford Counties. It will take weeks of consistent near/above normal rain to ease the drought this fall. The long-range forecast shows a wetter, but not super soggy, weather pattern through the fall.
