Pockets of Poor Drainage Flooding Today and Tonight
Especially across Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts
After nearly three weeks of no rain, showers will dominate our weather today and tonight as pulses of energy in a tropical air mass propagate along a very slow-moving cold front. Due to the very moist, tropical air streaming north along the eastern seaboard, there will be areas of very heavy downpours. There is enough instability to support a few embedded thunderstorms as well. Best estimate is for a widespread 1 to 3 inches of total rainfall across much of CT, all of RI, and central and eastern MA by Saturday morning. The axis of heaviest rain will likely be in the vicinity of the Boston to Providence corridor and south across southern RI and southeast MA where pockets of 3 to 5 inches may occur.
For the most part, this rain is considered beneficial, since we’ve been so dry. Nevertheless, the rainfall intensity will likely produce pockets of poor drainage flooding especially in RI, southern CT, and eastern MA urban areas. This includes the greater Boston and Providence metro areas. Poor drainage flooding may be exacerbated by drains clogged with leaves. Going into this rain event, streamflow is quite low. It will probably take over 4 inches of rain for any small streams to approach bank full and nearly 5 inches for any minor flooding of small streams.
The showers may linger toward midday on Saturday across the Cape and Islands. A second round of showers is likely late Saturday afternoon and night as an upper low center moves into New England. That upper low will contain cold temperatures aloft, which will cause instability to fuel scattered showers, including a few that could be briefly heavy. Due to the cold temperatures aloft, there could even be isolated small hail late Saturday afternoon or evening across interior southern New England.
Next Message
The next message will probably be the weekly significant weather outlook scheduled for Monday November 9.
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Message issued November 6, 2026 by:
Bob Thompson
Retired National Weather Service Meteorologist
Blue Hill Observatory Advisory Council Member
