So Spring is officially here, but it’s certainly coming in with a whimper as brief bursts of milder air are short-lived thanks to successive shots of cold air winning out. Our 50s this afternoon once again won’t last long as tomorrow’s highs struggle to climb out of the 30s for most.
It’s a mainly dry weekend overall, but a couple passing showers/sprinkles are scattered about early to mid afternoon today. Other than that, dry weather prevails tonight and again on Sunday. Winds are quite active out of the southwest this afternoon, gusting 20-30mph for most. Across Southeast Mass, gusts are even higher, occasionally near or past 40mph. The southwest winds turn northwest tonight and tomorrow, and that’ll help usher in the colder air.
The cold air pours in Sunday night as many towns start Monday morning off in the single digits! Despite some sunshine, highs only max out in the 20s! Near record cold for this time of year for high temperatures.
The cold air is squarely in place early to mid next week, the big question is, what about the snow and wind chance for Tuesday night/Wednesday?
We know there’s going to be plenty of cold air to support snow, and we also know there will be a powerful ocean storm that rapidly strengthens as it moves off the Carolina coastline and moves northeast. What we don’t know for sure right now is that exact track of the powerful ocean storm. The track right now favors a position just outside the “benchmark” which would keep the core heaviest snow and most powerful winds just offshore, aside from perhaps far Southeast Mass/Cape/Islands. Still, some lighter snow and wind will reach inland communities if this is indeed the set-up. In terms of being specific on numbers for snow and wind… it’s too early.
Why is it too early? A track 100-150 miles to the west implies a full blown Nor’easter for all of us, and a track 100-150 miles farther east means minimal snow and wind amounts. A shift of that magnitude, 100-150 miles, 4+ days out in the weather world is common, so I’m not throwing all my forecast eggs in one basket at this point. Bottom line, we’ll keep the flake and the windy icon in the 7day forecast right now for Tuesday night and Wednesday and leave is as a potential that needs watching.
In the meantime, enjoy the weekend!
@clamberton7- twitter