The timing of this storm is not ideal for that Friday morning commute as we see the changeover from rain to freezing rain and sleet.
A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for areas north and west of 495 and into southern NH until 7pm Friday evening, due to rain flipping over to freezing rain and sleet that could make for difficult travel. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for eastern MA, southern Worcester County and into SE MA to the Cape as an icy mix develops through the morning resulting in slick travel.
The flip from rain to freezing rain will begin in southern NH and into the RT. 2 corridor around 4am to 7am Friday morning and as temperatures tumble through the morning hours, the leading edge of that freezing rain will push farther south and east, arriving around Boston and along the Mass Pike between 7 to 10am, late morning through the early afternoon for SE MA to the South Coast.
We will likely see more sleet than freezing rain, resulting in a little more accumulation of the ice pellets along with some snow mixing in as well.
The better chance for accumulation will be for RT. 2 and areas north into southern NH.
It will be icy and slick for the Friday morning commute, but through the afternoon and evening, the untreated surfaces will be the ones that will be the most slick. It’s tough with this storm for crews to pre-treat the roadways because we have rain showers leading up to the icing event. The rain would just wash away any salt or sand.
The wintry precipitation starts to taper towards 8pm Friday evening.
Behind this system, much colder air slides in for the weekend with highs in the 20s. Sunday will be the better of the two weekend days since it will not be quite as windy as Saturday.
We kick off the next work week seasonable with highs in the 30s, then we’re back in the 40s by midweek. An offshore system could clip the Cape Tuesday afternoon with a few showers, otherwise next week looks relatively quiet.
