Heavy rain, potentially damaging winds ahead in Massachusetts Wednesday – Boston News, Weather, Sports

Make sure you get all your outdoor Christmas decorations today before it rains tonight as heavy rain and strong winds are forecast for your Wednesday.

There will also be patchy and freezing rain this evening, so please be careful on the roads.

Widespread rain will continue until bedtime this evening.

While temperatures will be in the 30s and 40s tonight, they will actually rise overnight and many of us will wake up to temperatures in the 50s. There will be widespread and drenching rain on Wednesday. The morning commute won’t be the worst as the wind won’t be quite as strong yet and most of the rain will be light to moderate.

However, as the day progresses, the waves of rain become stronger and the wind increases significantly. This means travel conditions will worsen throughout the day.

It won’t rain every second of the day, but it will rain most of the day. And the waves that come especially in the evening will be quite violent. Highs will be incredibly mild in the upper 50s and lower 60s.

We also expect the strongest winds in the evening, which will lead to torrential rain. In many inland areas, gusts will reach speeds in excess of 35-45 mph, and closer to the coast and near the Cape, they will reach the 55 mph mark. That’s strong enough to blow Christmas decorations around and potentially cause wind damage and power outages.

Total rainfall will be around 5 to 7cm which, given how hard and non-absorbent the ground is currently, could lead to flooding with poor drainage. Watch out for water accumulation on the streets.

The rain will stop Wednesday evening and very cold air will move back in at the tail end of this system. On Thursday we will still have wind gusts of 25-30 mph, highs reaching in the mid to upper 30s and lows in the lower to mid 30s feeling more like the 20s. At least the sky will be bright.

Friday and Saturday will be sunny and cold in the 30s, after morning lows in the teens. Sunday will see more clouds with highs in the upper 30s and lower 40s. We’ll have our next chance for rain Monday through Tuesday with highs in the 50s and 40s.