A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for most of the viewing area from Saturday afternoon through Sunday due to the heavy snow, and mixed precipitation (sleet and freezing rain) that is headed our way.
There’s also a Coastal Flood Watch in effect for on either side of Sunday morning’s high tide (~10AM) for the eastern coastal plain of Massachusetts from Essex County to Nantucket where we could see minor to moderate coastal flooding.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, we are also tracking light snow for Friday morning’s commute associated with a different system. This system will be bringing scattered snow showers with some mixing with rain into the late morning, before tapering by midday. We could see some slick spots with a dusting of snowfall likely, but most of this will melt as temperatures will rise into the upper 30s by afternoon.
Saturday features colder temperatures with highs into the mid to upper 20s under mostly cloudy skies. Saturday night is when the snow showers start to enter the region from the west.
As far as timing, the snow begins between 7PM and 10PM across NW MA and north central MA before overspreading the region by midnight. The thump of snow spreads in between 10PM and midnight and will continue into the early morning hours of Sunday before seeing a changeover to sleet and/or freezing rain along and south of the Mass Pike around 7AM Sunday. This will make for treacherous travel due to the snow and ice. With the potential for accumulating ice on top of the accumulating snow, downed trees and power lines are possible along and south of the Mass Pike into SE MA. For the Cape and Islands, we start off with light snow before quickly changing to a slushy mix, to rain.
The “jackpot” area for snow will be north and west of the Mass Pike, mainly along and north of the RT. 2 corridor when we could see well over a foot of snow.
Now, on the backside of this system, between 1PM and 4PM Sunday, as colder air rushes in, we could bring in more snow along and north of the Mass Pike, as the area of mixed precipitation shifts farther south and eastward. That line between snow and wintry mix continues to move farther south and east and onto the Cape between 4PM and 7PM, with most of the precipitation ending by 7PM.
The flash freeze then moves in as arctic air pours in from the northwest. Temperatures will crash along the immediate coastline and for SE MA creating that flash freeze.
Temperatures remain in the lower double digits Monday with a bitter cold breeze howling in from the northwest. Lows will slip into the single digits both early Monday and early Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday brings a warm-up with highs into the 40s before another cool down on the way into Friday. Likely with the warm-up, rain moves in Thursday.
