Storm slowly winding down, but where the wintry precipitation fell, it’s messy…and ugly – at least on the roads. Earlier, in the height of the storm, intense lift in the upper atmosphere created the heavy precipitation. At the same time, warmer air moved in several thousand feet above us. Kinda like this:
Suffice it to say, the roads are still pretty slippery. More so than in other storms because early rain washed away much of the pretreatment and the temperatures are near freezing. In fact, roads covered in wet snow and sleet are twice as slippery near freezing than if we were well below freezing. It’s science. Plain and simple.
Take it slow and easy in the coming hours if you’re venturing out. If not, kick back and enjoy the show. Storm wrap-up is well after midnight as the cold returns to bring us back to snow. Watch for freezing/icing in the coastal locations (this means the city of Boston) that saw rain all day as the temperatures drop to freezing.
Still holding to our numbers.
Winds are still howling, especially at the coast. Peak speeds reached 50mph in the worst of the storm earlier this afternoon. They’ll relax a bit overnight as the storm pulls away, but they really won’t drop off until tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow may be tricky in the morning for the folks in those Turkey Trots and footraces, but the slight warming of the afternoon will improve things dramatically. The day looks pretty good all around with peeks of sun amidst the clouds.
Thursday night a sneaky band of snow may erupt along the coast with a departing (weak) weather system. The snow showers that form may band together to put down a coating to as much as 2″ of snow with the right setup. Ironically, this will be in the locations that saw all rain today. Turnabout is fair play, apparently.
Make it a warm, safe holiday weekend!
Pete