Sunday Evening Essentials: Record-Challenging Heat Tuesday & Wednesday

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:02]Sunday evening essentials for the 1° outside weather network meteorologist Danielle Noyes here. Hope you've had a great weekend. We're going to start with the big weather headline, the heat coming in for this week, particularly Tuesday and into Wednesday. Records to beat for Boston, Providence, Hartford, Worcester, a lot of spots are running in the low to mid-90s, but I think we get there in some areas. The record to beat, for example, on Tuesday in Boston is 90°. I think we'll hit it, 91 on Wednesday. Records a little bit higher, particularly for somewhere like Hartford, but we may tie or exceed these, particularly during the day on Tuesday and then perhaps again on Wednesday as well. Early season heat, right? Sometimes by the middle of the summer, at least we're a little more accustomed to this. So, important things to keep in mind, stay hydrated, SPF 30 or higher necessary here, lightweight, light-colored clothing, take breaks in the shade if you need to, and I'm really important this time of the year. The air is hot, but the water is still cold.

[00:01:00]Water temperatures in spots are still running around or just over 50°, so you have to be very careful when you're taking breaks to cool off in the water.

[00:01:08]The risk of river currents is pretty high, too, after some of the rain, particularly in northern New England, so something to keep in the back of your mind. Kiddos are going to be dressing for summer school day forecast next few days. Actually, Monday's really beautiful, but still warm in the classroom, running in the 70s, cooler at the coast. 89° to 92° for a New England average recess and after-school on Tuesday. Wednesday's going to be hot as well, turning a little cooler later in the day, and there will be some storms that will fire up, as well. We'll talk more about those in a second. So, this evening, just beautiful. Varying amounts of clouds out there. I can't rule out an isolated thunderstorm, but it would be just that, not widespread, very hit or miss, only a few communities have a chance at it, partly cloudy overnight with temperatures dropping back into the 50s. There is a change coming in for our Monday. It's a back door front. So, what's going to happen here is the is going to shift around and come onshore and that will mean cooler readings at the coast for our Monday. Overnight tonight though, it's 40s in the North Country and 50s for most of us. It's still a warm day for our Monday. Look at this, through the interior, we're still going 80 to 85 in Western New England.

[00:02:13]At the coast though, especially the coast of Maine, 50s and 60s will do it.

[00:02:17]Boston may hit 71 or the low 70s and then cool back. South shore of the Cape running in the 60s, so it's still very pleasant. The southeast wind about 10 to 20 mph. Monday night, widespread 50s and even some lower 60s. The wind shifting around out of the southwest. Tuesday, the heat is on. 90 in Boston, 93 in Lawrence. Many spots low to mid-90s, particularly north and west of the city.

[00:02:40]There'll be a little bit of relief.

[00:02:42]Classic this time of the year, right with the southwest wind, the ocean influence. So, 70s on Cape Cod, the immediate south coast will be a tad cooler as well. 80s all the all the way to the Canadian border. 70s in northern Maine for most spots. This is generally 20 to 30° above normal in some areas.

[00:02:59]The wind will gust 20 to 30 mph, by the way. And you saw some green on the map, the pop-up thunderstorm is possible in the heat. Predicted dew point, by the way, because you're going to feel the difference. When the dew point gets up near 70, that's the truly tropical soupy air mass. So, we won't quite get there, but you notice it will be running in the 60s. With the heat and humidity in place, especially those that are more vulnerable in the heat, you want to check on them. Wednesday's highs go 90 plus again in the southern half of New England. Will be cooler, but still warm.

[00:03:28]70s to lower 80s in the North Country and around 70 on Cape Cod. More green showing up on the map on Wednesday.

[00:03:34]That's the cold front that will bring a significant cool down. Wednesday's dew points up there for central and southern New England, still in the low 60s. So, a humid air mass. Again, not, you know, that midsummer true soup, but this is the first heat and humidity we've had widespread this year. Now, by the time we get to the middle part of the week, there will be a cold front coming in.

[00:03:56]So, until then, there's not a whole lot of action on the radar. Yes, Tuesday may feature a pop-up shower or thunderstorm, but I don't think they're that widespread. There's just not as much of a trigger for the thunderstorms on Tuesday, despite the fact that we have the heat and humidity in place.

[00:04:11]Wednesday, different story. The trigger is the cold front, so we'll watch for some scattered, strong to severe thunderstorms possible, particularly in central and southern New England Wednesday afternoon and evening. Think some lightning, think downpours, think some damaging wind gusts potential, so we'll keep you posted on that. Behind it, noticeably cooler, like 20 to 30° cooler by the time we get to Thursday, and then some moisture may try to come back in here as we head into Memorial Day weekend. So, many days to kind of iron out the details of that. You can track it all, of course, in our free five-star weather app videos right at the top, access to our 24/7 streaming network, and membership opportunities.

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