The Northeast is in store for some weather whiplash this weekend as a backdoor cold front and a potent storm system bring drastic changes.
Record-breaking heat has baked much of the Northeast this week, with temperatures climbing into the upper 80s and 90s. Firefighters in Massachusetts were forced to battle a massive blaze at a historic church Friday that appears to have been sparked by lightning while also dealing with 90-degree temperatures.
On top of all that heat, dry weather has also plagued much of the region in recent weeks.
That will change for parts of the region this weekend.
Nearly two dozen high-temperature records have been broken since Thursday, according to the FOX Forecast Center. A cold front is forecast to swing through the Northeast this weekend and knock 20-30 degrees off the summerlike temperatures the region has been experiencing this week.
This cold front is of the backdoor variety because it is approaching from a different direction than cold fronts typically move. In this case, the cold air won’t move from the usual northwest to southeast. Instead, the cold air this weekend will move from the north to almost due south.
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Parts of New England are in the lowest level of drought, mainly along the coast and areas near the Canadian border.
A pesky but potent low-pressure system will park itself off the coast and sling abundant moisture to the coastal area. The result will be persistent rain for parts of the region.
The bulk of the rain will be confined to Maine to start the weekend, but by Sunday, rain spreads farther south and inland. This means places such as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island will get in on the wet weather.
Up to 2 inches of rain is possible in some areas through Monday.
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