A cold front sweeping through the area today will bring showers this morning, but the fast nature of the front means clearing will take place in the afternoon along with some sunshine.   Some areas could see as much as half an inch of rain while others only receive a 10th of an inch.

After the showers end this morning it will be quite mild with some sunny breaks possible.

After the showers end this morning it will be quite mild with some sunny breaks possible.

The sunshine this afternoon is going to be welcome, but not long-lasting.  The weather pattern becomes stuck for the rest of the week and into the weekend.  We certainly haven’t seen much in the way of constantly poor weather for a long time.  Unfortunately, the lack of sunshine won’t be accompanied by much in the way of rain.  As a matter of fact, it’s not going to surprise me if the rain this morning is the most rain we see the rest of the week.

The next time I see showers to possibly be widespread is Friday.  We need rain badly and while temperatures have cooled significantly, the drought is still in full force.  Droughts in the fall can still have tremendous impact.  If we don’t see much rain before the ground freezes, the damage to plants during the winter could be quite bad.

The upcoming cloudy and damp pattern will last through the week, with possible sunshine returning late in the weekend or early next week.

The reason for the lack of sunshine this week will be a storm rotating in place to our south.  The GIF below shows the bulk of the rainfall with this system remaining south of Maine, but there will likely be an increase in showers Friday or early Saturday.  Clouds will definitely dominate the skies, especially south of Augusta, the remainder of the week.   Even by the weekend this weather system may still be plaguing the area.

It’s been a very sunny spring, summer and first week of fall, but at least temporarily that is about to change.

A weather system will rotate to the south Maine much of the rest of the week.

A weather system will rotate to the south Maine much of the rest of the week.

You can follow my weather updates on Twitter at @growingwisdom.