Drab, gray skies and cold temperatures. That about sums up today. Later on, a batch of light snow jumped onto the coast and put down a coating in some spots. So begins the ocean-effect snow game.
I call it a game because these are some of the toughest forecasts to make. Just when you think you have them figured out, they shift course and do something unexpected. They’re at the whim of a fickle onshore wind, and so low to the ground that they elude Doppler radar. It’s almost pointless to track these snow showers since they flare and fade in a matter of minutes.
As a result, I’ve been very liberal in the spreading of the coating-1″ snowfall amounts tonight/tomorrow (as you can see on the right). With temperatures at or slightly above freezing on the Cape, it seems less likely you’ll ever see anything near 1″, but I didn’t want to get cute with the snow bands.
We await a sharp cold front on Friday to get rid of this semi-silly setup. After it crosses, the clouds break, the winds gust and the temperature plummets. If you’re going out Friday night, put on the woolies. Wind chills will be near 0!
We’ll go from the deep freeze Friday night/Saturday morning right to the warmth on Sunday. Highs will be catapulted right to the low 40s as a mild storm pumps in the rain for the Pats game. Doesn’t look like torrents will fall, but certainly enough for puddles and, if the wind gets involved, sideways rain at Gillette.
Pete