Weak weather system whimpered through New England today. With marginal temperatures, we only managed to get a couple of inches at most and a general coating areawide. Phase two comes tonight as the storm deepens – OK, goes for broke – in the Gulf of Maine off Cape Ann.
That’s when two things happen: the wind jams down arctic air, and a batch of snow whips around the backside of the storm. Yesterday, I fretted that the accumulations would be significant for extreme NE Mass. and the Seacoast of NH, but that doesn’t seem to be the case now. The storm edges a little farther east, and the snow wraps quickly in the AM.
Cold will rule the weekend…and set the table for the next storm, which is in Arizona and New Mexico now.
I know what you’re thinking. Warm climate, warm storm. Right?
Wrong.
There’s too much cold air over us. It will transform the storm and make for a dusty, dry, powdery snowfall. Think snow globe snow. Champagne powder in the Rockies. So what follows on Tuesday is a compression of that snow as it shakes out and drifts on a gusty wind. Translated: although we may see near a foot or more, it turns to just a few inches by Tuesday as all the air is sucked out of the settled snow.
So…my thinking is that from Boston/Worcester south, a good foot to 15″ is possible. North of that line, 6-10 inches is possible – up into Southern NH.
Decent storm, eh? We’ll have updates through the weekend.
Be well and GOOOOOOO Pats!!!
Pete