Okay, I get it...the weatherman hasn't been all that popular recently. Unfortunately, we still won't have any true summer weather this week, but we are going to make improvements.

Thursday will still feature a lot of clouds, fog and scattered showers, downpours and thunderstorms. They will be moving at random, so it is impossible where and when they will hit. However, you can track the precipitation on our radar below, and on our StormTracker radar. We will see some sun on Friday, before a renewed chance of thunderstorms late in the day. Read the rest of the forecast here.

Radar Window
Click here for interactive radar

All of our recent rainfall has led to beach closures around the South Shore. After the State tested Hingham beaches this week, it decided to close Bel Air beach to swimmers due to high bacteria counts. Beaches like Wollaston Beach in Quincy, and others in Hull, Duxbury and Plymouth have been closed for the same reason. These counts have increased because bacteria flourishes in wet weather, and because heavy rainfall often washes contamination from land towards the water.

Bacteria Test Sites in Hingham
Green dots are open, red are closed for swimming.

Although June plays host to the start of summer, you certainly wouldn't know it this year. Clouds and showers have dominated our weather this month, making Boston feel more like Seattle!

If you can't remember a June quite so gloomy, you are not crazy. This month featured 27-28% of the available sunshine as recorded at the Blue Hill Observatory by Bob Skilling. The cloudiest June on record, which was 1903, featured only 25% of the available sun...that means we have endured the cloudiest June is over 100 years!! The next cloudiest June on record was in 1998 when we saw 36% of the available sun.

What's more troubling is the fact that we only had 3 "sunny" days, according to Bob Skilling, which featured at least 77% of sunshine. Plus, rain fell on about 2/3 of the days, even though most of those rain events were very small and did not add up to much.

Specific June Stats for Hingham

This month was really bizarre. We saw lots of clouds, and frequent bouts of precipitation thanks to several upper level lows that parked themselves near us. The clouds helped to keep our temperatures far below average, preventing any summer like heat from setting up. In fact, we have only had one 90 degree reading so far this year…and that was in April! Although we saw precipitation on about 2/3 of the days this month, most of the events were light, leading to a near average monthly total. Here are the numbers from this month (with comparison to averages in brackets), and then the numbers from more recent Junes. Click here for day by day stats for June.

Average High: 70.6 [-5.7]
Average Low: 57.7 [+2.3]
Average Temperature: 64.1 [-1.8]

High: 81.0
Low: 46.2

Rain: 3.92”

June 2008

Average High: 79.4
Average Low: 61.2
Average Temperature: 70.3

High: 97.5
Low: 50.0

Rainfall: 3.86”

June 2007

Average High: 77.5
Average Low: 59.2
Average Temperature: 68.4

High: 95.5
Low: 47.7

Rainfall: 3.69”

June 2006

Average High: 75.8
Average Low: 61.6
Average Temperature: 68.5

High: 91.2
Low: 52.5

Rainfall: 16.47”

June 2005

Average High: 79.9
Average Low: 60.8
Average Temperature: 70.2

High: 95.5
Low: 47.3

Rainfall: 1.44”

Reader Response: Vent About the June Weather, or Ask Questions About it.

The Details: Yemenia Airlines flight 626 from Sanaa, Yemen to Moroni, Comoros crashed into the Indian Ocean early Tuesday morning. The A310 jet had 153 passengers and crew on board at the time of the crash, but so far only a teen has been recovered alive. Reports from the area indicate that the seas the plane crashed into were rough, and that the weather around the islands has been poor for days. While the official cause of the crash is still under investigation, weather is certainly a leading hypothesis.

4Check the weather around Africa

Visual:

The plane took off from Sanaa, and was due to arrive in Moroni. The crash reportedly happened near Comoros.

Flashback: Remember, it was just earlier this month that an Air France jet crashed between Brazil and Africa. Everyone on board that plane was presumed dead.

Reader Response: Are you Worried About Flying in Bad Weather?

I just returned from a trip to Seattle, Washington. As usual, I took a few pictures for you to look at! They can be found here.