There is still the chance that a storm or two could become strong to severe with strong winds and hail. The biggest threat with any storms that become severe today will be strong straight-line winds, torrential rains and large hail.

A cold front will slide our way overnight and will continue to be the focal point for showers, downpours and a few embedded thunderstorms. As this front pushes eastward it will stall off shore tomorrow. This will keep the clouds around with showers and a few periods of rain. There could be a storm or two tomorrow, most likely non-severe.

An area of low pressure will form on the front for the start of the weekend. This storm will keep periods of rain and showers spinning into western Massachusetts for Saturday and for most of Sunday as well. It will be much cooler and raw with temperatures stuck in the 50′s!! This storm will (hopefully) move away by Memorial Day. Right now the holiday is looking much better than the rest of the weekend with sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Highs on Monday will top off near 70.

Have a great day!

Dan Brown

AGAWAM, Mass. (WGGB) – Each year hundreds take part in a special Memorial Day Ceremony at the Massachusetts Veteran’s Cemetery in Agawam. This year a few dozen students from the two schools helped organizers prepare. They spent several hours placing flags in front of every one of the cemetery’s eight thousand graves.

This year’s Memorial Day Ceremony begins at 1 p.m Monday at the Massachusetts Veteran’s cemetery on Main Street in Agawam.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGG) A Group of 6th graders from Donahue Elementary School in Holyoke wanted to do something to help the victims of The Boston Marathon bombing. So the kids held a bake sale and a car wash to raise money for the One Fund Boston. The kids raised nearly 600 dollars. The staff, teachers, students and Donahue  School Community all came together to make the event a success.

A warm front will lift through the area this morning as clouds break to some sunshine. It will become warm and muggy later on as well.  The return to the heat and humidity will lead to afternoon showers and thunderstorms.  A few storms could be strong to severe with damaging winds and large hail. The Storm Prediction Center gives us a 2% chance for a tornado to develop, which is low. The best chance for getting hit with a storm will between 3 pm – 9 pm. The main concern with these storms will be the potential for large hail and damaging winds. These storms will also contain torrential downpours that could lead to some areas of flash flooding.

Criteria for a Severe Thunderstorm:  Wind gusts over 58 mph, Hail larger than 1″ in diameter, a storm produces a tornado.

Western Mass. Severe Weather Threat: A back door cold front sliding in off the Atlantic will drift towards western Mass then stall across Worcester County. This will keep us in the warm, muggy air mass this afternoon. This front will become the focal point for some thunderstorm activity. We are not expecting a severe weather out break however we could see a couple of strong to perhaps severe storms later this afternoon. Severe weather will be the exception and not the rule. The best chance for any shower or thunderstorm activity will mostly likely be from 3 pm to 9 pm this afternoon/evening. Anyone of these storms could produce heavy rain, small hail and gusty winds. Be sure to head inside if you clouds building. Don’t cancel the outdoor plans but be prepared to bring things inside in short notice.

Students at the Powder Mill Middle School in Southwick took their history lesson outdoors on Monday. The held a reenforcement of our country’s fight for independence. The clothing, artillery and way of life were true to history. Students found out first hand how wars were fought centuries ago.  the Lebanon Militia is a group that travels around teaching revolutionary and civil war history supplied the instructors and supplies.

The plays featured a double cast of more than 100 kids from over 30 communities throughout the Pioneer Valley. The students say the performances help them off stage as well.

The Starlight Youth Theater is a non profit organization dedicated to providing quality education and production of children’s theater.

DEERFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) – Lisa Echevarria is a 4th grade teacher at the Bement School in Deerfield and has been selected to attend an American History and Cultural workshop titled, “Living on the Edge of an Empire.”

Lisa is one of only eighty teachers from around the country that has been selected to attend this workshop that takes place this summer in historic old Deerfield. Echevarria  was selected because of her outstanding work in the classroom. She has a way of bringing Historic Colonial Lessons to life, making it easier for her students to understand.

WILBRAHAM, Mass. (WGGB)- Sadie Parker is a Junior at Wilbraham & Monson Academy and this year’s winner of the Congressional Art Competition representing western and central Mass. The U.S. House Sponsors the nation wide competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in each congressional district. Sadie’s entry, “The Learned Virtuoso” was selected over 52 other entries and will be on display in the capital building. She was congratulated for her achievements by Congressmen Richard Neal.

Here are some unofficial low temperatures across western Mass.

Westfield: 32, Springfield: 31, Palmer: 31, Orange: 29, West Springfield: 29, Greenfield: 28, Hampden: 28, North Adams: 28, Belchertown: 27, Colrain: 27,

Holyoke, Mass. (WGGB) – Holyoke students are showing off their creative side at the art show, “Heart of Holyoke.” It runs through May 23rd at Heritage State Park. The show includes art from students grades K through 12. Hundreds of pieces of art work are on display and you can check it out at the visitors center. The visitors center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. The center is located at 221 Appleton Street in Holyoke.

WORTHINGTON, Mass. (WGGB) – Marina Caputo, an 11 year old from Worthington has joined the fight to end hunger. Marina pledged to collect one ton of peanut butter to donate to The Food Bank of Western Mass. She hopes to accomplish her goal by the end of June.

Marina became a food bank volunteer after taking a tour of the Hatfield Facility. You can help Marina’s cause by dropping some peanut butter off at one of these four locations.

Corners Grocery in Worthington,

Williamsburg Market in Williamsburg,

Whole Foods in Hadley and

Tanya’s Salon in Worthington

STOUGHTON, Mass. (WGGB) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF0 tornado touched down in Stoughton, Mass. Thursday afternoon.

The twister, which came around 4:30 p.m., had winds of 70-80mph.

An EF0 tornado is the weakest tornado on the enhanced Fujiti scale.

There was also a microburst with straight line winds of 60 mph about a half and a mile from the tornado.

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (WGGB) – Next week South Hadley High School will be putting on it’s end of the year event, highlighting the school arts program. It’s the 8th straight year for the event. It features musicians, fine and graphic artists, furniture designers and photographers. They’ll also host a cookout during the event.

The art show is Thursday, May 16th, from 6 pm to 8 pm and all are welcome.

HOLYOKE, Mass (WGGB)- Every spring, New Englanders have the opportunity to see an amazing view of fish lifted over the Holyoke dam.

Wednesday was opening day for Robert E. Barett Fishway’s viewing season.

Sensing warm water, fish migrate upstream.  When they arrive in Holyoke, they have already traveled 86 miles from the mouth of the Conn. River from the Long Island sound and hit the dam.

In order to continue on the journey, these fish need a ride.

Thousands of fish are attracted into a passage way. They then swim into a large bucket, and lifts carry the migrating fish up and over the Holyoke dam.

Visitors can actually watch the trip in action from the observation deck overlooking the Conn. River.

There is also a counting room on the premises where students from Holyoke Community College use a clicker to count every single fish that passes through.

Wednesday, they expect over 20,000 fish to come by. For all of last year, over 500,000 fish.

The Holyoke Fishway is operated by Holyoke Gas and Electric. It is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through June 16.

The Fishway is fun for all ages and admission is free.

You can visit this website for more information.

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) – Fifth grade students at Memorial School got a real life history lesson.  The students have been studying about the Holocaust and last Friday, 84 year old Dr. Julius Menn shared his story of survival with students. Students presented him with a copy of the book, One Thousand Tracings, that each one of them signed. The book inspired the students to do something in their own community starting their own  food drive for the Open Pantry.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) – A Transitional Fair for students with disabilities will be held Wednesday, May 8th at Putnam Vocational High School. As students with disabilities approach graduation, parents often begin worrying about the future. This fair will help ease those worries. It will provide information about adult services such as employment opportunities and post-secondary schools.

The fair takes place Wednesday from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm at Putnam High School in Springfield. For more information contact Maureen Ferriter at 781-7057 or email her at ferriterm@sps.springfield.ma.us

The fundraiser was in support of their coach whose mother-in-law was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. The kids designed pink T-shirts to wear in the games and advertised the event in the town newspaper, raising almost three thousand dollars for breast cancer research.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) –  Check out this video sent to us by Glen in Springfield.

It shows a dust devil that spun up Wednesday afternoon at Blunt Park in Springfield.

A dust devil is formed when a rising column of warm air rushes into a pocket of  cool air. The process causes the air to rotate due to the conserved angular momentum.

This rising and rotating column of air picks up dust and debris like a tornado, creating a dust devil.

Just like other types of weather phenomena, dust devils depend on three conditions 

The first is flat arid ground or asphalt. This type of ground allows for easy absorption of heat in order to create a constant source of rising warm air.

The next thing needed is a clear sky with few clouds. This allows for the maximum amount of solar energy needed to make warm air currents.

The final requirement is that there be little or no wind. This is because extreme differences between surface and air temperature are needed to make a dust devil.  

All this week conditions have been ideal for Dust Devil to form.