Morning downpours will taper off to showers

By Melissa M. Werthmann, Globe Correspondent

The latest forecast from WBZ-TV’s Melissa Mack.

New Englanders sloshed through another wet morning commute and they’ll need to keep an umbrella handy for the rest of the workweek.

Heavy rain this morning will slow to showers by this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

“All of the significant precipitation will be over soon,” said meteorologist Charlie Foley. “We’ll probably get some lingering showers this afternoon.”

There will be patchy fog and light winds today. Temperatures will be near 50 in the city.

Although the weather is drying up, there could be spotty showers for the rest of the week, Foley said.

Monday’s storm system dropped about a half inch of rain on Boston, which put the city in a position to make up the precipitation deficit for the month.

Boston is about 0.4 inches below normal rain totals for December, Foley said.

“We could possibly make that up, but for the year, we still have that big deficit,” he said.

Boston is about 9.5 inches short on the usual annual rain total.

Wednesday brings a slight chance of rain. The day will be a bit cooler, with temperatures in the mid-40s. Skies will be partly sunny, according to the weather service.

The day will be breezy, with winds up to 20 miles per hour.

There is a slight chance of precipitation during the late afternoon Thursday, but most of the rain will fall during the evening and overnight hours.

Temperatures will be in the low 40s Thursday.

Bay Staters will finish off the workweek with more rain, as another system moves into the region Friday into Saturday, Foley said.

“That’s the storm that’s out on the West Coast that has the high winds and all the snow,” he said. “We’re not going to get the snow, but we could get some fairly strong winds.”

Those winds will bring in “the coldest air that we’ve seen this season,” Foley said.

Temperatures Friday will be in the mid-40s, but will dip into the mid-30s over the weekend, he said.

Nighttime temperatures during the weekend will be in the low 20s and teens throughout the state.

“That will be quite an awakening for many people,” Foley said.

Saturday and Sunday will be dry, but cloudy and breezy.

Dry weather means that New Englanders won’t have to battle rain next week, but there won’t be any snow either.

“Prospects for a white Christmas are very poor,” Foley said.