Brrrr! The winter winds are certainly in charge this morning as wind chills start off the day in the single digits and air temps run in the teens to lower 20s. Highs rebound into the lower 30s this afternoon under a partly to mostly sunny sky. Winds will gust 15-25mph through early afternoon, then taper off.
It’ll be dry and cold tonight and dry during the daylight hours tomorrow. Highs reach the low to mid 30s tomorrow afternoon as clouds thicken up.
That colder air will set the stage for the first significant snow of the season for a large portion of southern New England tomorrow night into Sunday.
As an area of low pressure traverses the country over the next couple of days, it’ll pick up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Atlantic and push it into the cold air across the Northeast. As it does so, snow will break out across the region late Saturday evening and through the day Sunday. A snowy Sunday is likely at Gillette!
Snow breaks out tomorrow evening, with some rain mixing in at the coast. That snow become steadier and heavier predawn Sunday, laying down a winter’s landscape by the time many of us wake up Sunday morning. The exception to that will be rain mixes in the most (coastal Plymouth County/Cape/Islands). Pockets of light to moderate snow continues through Sunday afternoon, continuing to add to the totals of the ground.
Right now, the highest chance for all snow favors locations near and northwest of I-95. That’s where 6″ or more of snow is most likely. Especially where the air is the coldest, and the snow’s a bit fluffier… near and northwest of I-495. Some spots out that way may push toward 12″.
Even in Boston, I do expect snow, it’s just that some mixing with rain is possible at times and the snow will be heavy and wet. Generally thinking around 3-6″ near the city.
In the afternoon, along the coast, we’ll also have to watch for temps to drop from the mid 30s, back into the 20s. That may happen pretty quickly as winds turn back to the north. That’ll allow for untreated surfaces to turn icy and some slushy areas to freeze up. With some snow continuing, it’ll be easy for roads to slicken up.
Winds are strongest along the coast, gusting 40-50mph, with a few higher gusts possible across the lower Cape and Nantucket. Tides are astronomically on the lower side, so significant coastal flooding is not expected. Where winds gust 30-40mph across eastern Mass, there may be some pockets of power outages/tree damage, as the pasty snow, combined with wind adds stress to tree limbs.
The light snow wraps up early Sunday evening and is long gone by the Monday morning commute. We’ll still have to watch for icy spots Monday morning though on untreated surfaces as temps start the day in the teens and low 20s.
The next storm arrives Tuesday night into Wednesday. This one’s mostly rain and heavy at times. Rivers and streams will swell again with melted snow and rain water.