The sunshine will follow downpours, and even some thunderstorms, on Wednesday. The morning thunder here on the South Shore was the first of 2012, which is relatively late in the year. Atop Blue Hill, where records date back to the 1800s, the latest first thunderstorm on record came on May 18. So, we missed the record latest date by just two days!

Regardless, Thursday’s sunshine will be combined with highs in the lower to middle 70s. More sunshine, and similar temperatures in the low 70s will return for Friday.

The weekend is looking terrific too, with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the middle to upper 70s. It will be slightly cooler along the coast, but still, it will be a super weekend for any outdoor activities, including Saturday’s Taste of Hingham in the Square which lasts from Noon to 3 PM.

The weather will also be favorable for Hingham’s Touch a Boat event at the Harbor. The event, which begins Saturday at 11 AM and ends at 3 PM, will promote National Safe Boating Week.

The Wireless Emergency Alerts service is completely free, and does not require sign up. The service is also location based, so you will only receive alerts that are relevant for your specific area. This is particularly helpful when people are traveling, and may not be familiar with where they truly are.

The free alerts will warn of life threatening events including tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, dust storms, extreme wind, blizzards, and ice storms. Each message will be less than 90 characters, so citizens will be referred to other sources for detailed information regarding the event. The goal of the messages is to simply make people aware of the situation.

In addition to weather alerts, Amber Alerts and Presidential Alerts, will also be sent to your mobile devices. You may choose to opt-out of all alerts except for the Presidential Alerts.

The main concern surrounding the program is the speed with which mass texts can be delivered. Participating companies, which include AT&T, Cellcom, Cricket, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon, say that this system will use a channel unavailable to other texts ensuring speedy delivery.

Much of Eastern Massachusetts will just be cloudy on Monday, with a few hit and miss showers. The most widespread showers will remain north and west of Boston, closer to the front which is stalled near the Berkshires.

Tuesday will be very similar to Monday, with clouds and a few hit or miss showers impacting Eastern Massachusetts. A wave of low pressure riding along the stalled front will bring a batch of heavier rain to Western New England.

With time, steadier rain will advance into Eastern Massachusetts, but that won’t happen until Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

By Wednesday afternoon, a few breaks of sun will develop from west to east. We’ll have to wait until Thursday for true clearing, however.

When it’s all said and done, a general 0.5-1.0″ will fall across much of Greater Boston. Not to sound like a broken record, but we still need the rain, as our yearly rainfall deficit remains in the 4-6″ range.

Temperatures on Saturday will climb to around 80 degrees, well above the average of 66. Saturday will be really spectacular, with abundant sunshine and just a few high clouds late day. It will be a tad breezy as well.

Mother’s Day will dawn bright, but clouds will move in during the afternoon. North and west of Boston there will be a few isolated showers, but the vast majority of the day will be dry and warm with highs again reaching the upper 70s to near 80.

Clouds and occasional showers return to the forecast by Monday.

No sunshine was recorded at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton from May 1 until late in the day until May 5. That’s nearly 5 days of sunless conditions. The last time clouds ruled for 5 days was back in May 2006, when flooding rains inundated much of Massachusetts between the 12th and 16th. While historic flooding occurred north of Boston during that time, as 10-15″ of rain fell, less serious but still significant flooding occurred south of Boston. In Hingham, 8.60″ of rain was recorded.

Another cloudy stretch developed this week, but fortunately it will not last five days.

After a period of moderate to heavy rain moves through Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, dumping an additional 1-2″ across Southeastern Massachusetts, partial clearing will develop late Thursday.

Sunshine on Friday will gradually be blotted out by pop up clouds, and an isolated instability shower, before more sunshine arrives with mild temperatures for Saturday. The mild conditions, with highs in the lower 70s, look to extend into Mother’s Day.

After eventually breaking out into sunshine on Sunday, bright conditions will return for Monday. Temperatures will also be near 70, which is above average for this time of year. The month to date, however, is almost 2 degrees below average. Should this cool stretch continue, May would be the first cooler than normal month since last June!

Unfortunately Monday’s sunshine will be short lived, as another rainy stretch looks to set up this week. Tuesday will start off cloudy, with rain developing by late morning. That rain will continue off and on into Wednesday and Thursday, with some partial clearing by the end of the week.

Despite last week’s rain, we are still in a “severe” drought, meaning that the upcoming rain is still welcome on paper. In reality, it seems most people are ready for sunny spring weather!

While Saturday looks mostly dry, clouds will still win out. Breaks will begin to develop late in the day, and that clearing will continue to move in from west to east overnight. So, we will still squeak out a partial view of the ‘Super Moon.’

In all honesty, the ‘Super Moon’ isn’t that super. Yes, the moon will appear 16% bigger and 30% brighter as it hits perigee, its closest point to Earth, but we’ve seen better. In March of 2011, for example, we saw the largest ‘Super Moon’ in two decades (see picture).

After the moon begins to wane, sunshine and temperatures in the 60s will finally return for Sunday and Monday. Keep in mind that this weekend’s ‘Super Moon’, also known as the ‘Flower’ moon because it occurs in May, will also lead to abnormally high tides through early next week.

A warm April helped to increase that average temperature value this year. April was yet another warm month locally, boasting an average temperature of 51.9 which is more than 4 degrees above average. That’s the second warmest April on record. The warmest April ever recorded was in 2010 when the average temperature was 52.2.

Boston’s average temperature of 53.1 in April was 5 degrees above normal, and also ranked second warmest on record.

A batch of light to moderate rain will move through the area during the morning and early afternoon hours, before tapering off later in the afternoon. A few pockets of downpours will also be embedded in the generally lighter rain. Most locations will pick up 0.25-0.75″ of rain. An isolated 1″ total is also in the cards, which of course is much needed since we are still in a “severe” drought.

Besides the rain, the day will be dominated by clouds and patchy fog as winds remain onshore. Those winds will be gusty at times, especially during the morning along the coast.

Wednesday will also remain cooler (in the 50s) and mostly cloudy. Temperatures will return to near normal Thursday, and perhaps above normal on Friday. However, with several weak disturbances passing through during the mid to late week timeframe the forecast is fairly changeable.

You should be prepared to deal with severe thunderstorms that contain hail and gusty winds, tornadoes, and flash floods.

The National Weather Service encourages each citizen to know how he or she would react in the face of severe weather at various locations, including home, school, or work. For example, you should know where safe locations are in each place in case you are required to take shelter. In addition, the National Weather Service advices each household to have a NOAA Weather Radio that can warn of impending severe storms.

In New England, the months of May through August feature the most severe weather.