MARION, MA — It was another typical day for me at BYC. It was an early Monday afternoon. The hot, humid, stagnant air made for a slow morning of launch driving.
With about an hour and a half left in my 7:30-3 shift, I noticed an impressive cloud buildup to the north of Sippican Harbor. It was hard to tell from the harbor, but the clouds looked like they were setting up north of Interstate 195.
By the time my shift ended at 2:45, everything was in place for a real whopper to go down. The skies had darkened, the feel of rain was imminent, but I still had yet to hear any thunder.
I checked the Boston weather reports on the XM Radio, which reported some rain along the north shore, but nothing too much. I left the BYC parking lot and headed north on Route 105 towards I-195 to see what there was.
As I got to the junction of I-195, the clouds were still dark and a few raindrops began to fall. The clouds were moving rather rapidly in an easterly direction, which left me with really only one option.
I jumped onto the eastbound side of I-195 (which I was going on anyway to head home), which the hopes I might be able to make an intercept an exit or two up Interstate 495.
In a matter of seconds after merging onto 195, a few raindrops hit the windshield, followed by a couple heavy bursts of rain, a key sign of a storm a-brewing. I flipped the wipers on and continued looking to the north.
As I progressed east into Wareham, the rain was on and off, coming down in heavy bursts when it did rain. There was still no evidence of any lightning or thunder.
As I passed the Parking Area and Exit 21, the sun began to come back out, and the rain subsided, so I decided to bag the intercept attempt up I-495. I put my sunglasses back on and exited onto Route 25 eastbound and headed home.
I looked at the Boston Radar when I got home, and it was quite obvious that I had made the right decision to not chase it. There was no lightning at all, and the storms were fizzling out over Cape Cod Bay.