We’re just starting to get used to the way winter should feel – and then BAM! Mother Nature slaps us with an arctic blast! We’re in for it, Monday and Tuesday, when highs will fail to make it to 30°. Get ready! It might hurt a little…
But first, some more sunshine and seasonable temps are in store for the rest of the weekend. Skies stay mainly clear overnight, and temps drop into the 20s. Tomorrow features more sun than clouds and highs around 40° once again. It’s still a touch breezy though, so you’ll want to dress for a "real feel" temp (wind chill) closer to freezing.
The cold air starts to seep in overnight Sunday into Monday, but it takes a little bit to really take hold. There is a snowflake icon on my 7-day forecast, but that snow isn’t for everyone. We’re expecting "ocean-effect" snow showers and snow squalls for Cape Cod and the islands come Monday. When you have bitterly cold air move over relatively warm ocean water (45° water temp), the air-mass becomes very unstable. This is a very similar concept to lake-effect snow – and we’ve seen what that can do! Most likely areas to see snow accumulate will be the middle and outer Cape, as well as the islands. Snow totals will vary quite a bit – but 1-3" could be in order. If a squall pops up, it could also reduce visibility for a time. These ocean-effect snow showers likely hold off until mid-day on Monday, and get cranking in the afternoon.
My other concern with Monday is this: When the kiddos left school a couple of weeks ago to start Winter Break, they were wearing spring-time clothing to school! Now our weather has done a complete 180, and it is really winter. When the kids head out to the bus stop come Monday (back to the grind!) they’ll really need to be bundled up. This cold air is BITTER, and it will hurt even more because we haven’t had time to really acclimate yet this year. Tuesday is even colder. We start in the single digits for most spots and top out in the low 20s. YIKES. At least it’s sunny??? (written with question marks to express apprehensiveness… The sun will be there, but it won’t help with the bitter bite of the cold).
We’re back to "normal" on Wednesday, and things will stay quiet through the end of the week. However, a lot of people are already talking about next weekend. There are still a lot of timing and temp details to work out here, but for now it looks "more wet than white." I’m not ready to send you out for the milk and eggs just yet. Stay tuned…
Enjoy your weekend! -Breezy
