The nor’easter that rapidly intensified as it approached southern New England brought whipping winds, whiteout conditions, and significant snowfall to the region today. It was verified as a blizzard for 6 towns across the region since these conditions lasted over 3 consecutive hours (more information regarding the exact classification and timing will be released at a later time from the National Weather Service Boston office).
The Blizzard Warning remains in effect until midnight tonight due to the blowing and drifting snow and the howling winds that will continue to make for treacherous travel.
This is the first official blizzard since March 2018.
The snow totals as of 6:30pm Saturday stretched to over 2 feet for quite a few towns in SE MA as a heavy band of snow dropped 2-4″ per hour snowfall rates for much of the day.
The snow will continue to taper through 11pm, along with the winds. It will still be windy overnight, but not nearly as strong as what we saw during the height of the storm.
With the fresh snow pack, the cold in place and steady northwest wind, wind chills overnight will be dangerously low at times. We’re talking wind chills 10 to 20 degrees below zero at times.
A Wind Chill Advisory has been issued for Worcester County from 7pm tonight through 10am Sunday.
Sunday is brighter and drier under mostly sunny skies with a cold wind. The quieter and drier pattern continues for the first half of the week followed by a shift around Thursday. Thursday is mild with highs into the upper 40s followed by a cold front that pushed in a chance for snow showers Friday with afternoon temperatures dipping to below the freezing mark. The first half of next weekend is cold with highs in the low 20s.
