On this Groundhog Day, we had overcast skies and highs into the low 40s in southern New England. Although Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, declaring another six weeks of winter our local state groundhog, Ms. G at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, didn’t see her shadow, declaring that spring will arrive early. Time will tell, but in the next few days, we are tracking a winter storm that will bring a mix of wintry precipitation Friday.
Although this storm will not be nearly as powerful as the last one, the Friday morning commute could become tricky due to slick roads as temperatures drop and the rain changes over to a mix of sleet and snow around and north of the Pike.
A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for areas around the Mass Pike and north into southern NH from late Thursday night through Friday.
For our Thursday, highs will be in the 40s under cloudy skies. Scattered rain showers will be with us through the day.
These rain showers then flip to a wintry mix as a cold front moves in early Friday morning. That wintry mix will contain some freezing rain, but the bulk of it will be sleet, which will still make for slick travel for your Friday morning commute.
As for the changeover to snow, that looks to be mainly along and north of RT. 2 mid-morning Friday, where snow accumulations will be higher.
The precipitation starts to become scattered into the evening, but the evening commute could also still be dicey.
A mix of snow and sleet will accumulate along and north of the Pike and then southeast of the Pike towards the South Coast, it will be an icy glaze while the Cape and Islands will be mainly rain.
Behind this system, a cold blast of air swings in for the weekend. Both weekend days, highs will be in the 20s. Saturday will be a little more brutal with a cold wind dipping wind chills into the single digits to teens.
At least for the following work week, we’ll see the 30s returning. Aside from an early flurry Wednesday, a dry pattern is with us from Saturday through midweek.
