After a complete dud of a winter, snow is finally returning to New England as we knock on the door of March… go figure! If we get snow (at any time of the winter), storms like this one are the ones we like to see. There are a lot of “pros” to this storm and very few “cons”. Of course the biggest “con” is going to be travel. We’ll have snow for both the morning and evening commutes, but with lighter intensity for the evening commute, I’m really only concerned about the morning commute as far as bigger impacts are concerned. Either way, we know snow causes slick travel so winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories have been posted by the National Weather Service for the travel impact late tonight and through the day tomorrow.
There’s a lot that is working in our favor with this snow as far as travel is concerned. While the overnight and early (until sunrise) will feature snow covered roads, once the sun can get up it’ll go to work to melt off the roads. The stronger sun this time of year, temperatures that are just marginally cold enough for snow, and a little road treatment will go a long way to keep roads wet during the day tomorrow — especially the main roads.
While main, treated roads will be ok in the afternoon, you’ll still have to shovel and plow your driveway and sidewalk. If you are a “one and done” shovel-type, well you’ll have to wait a while. This is a long duration storm that will take several hours to get to the totals advertised. The storm doesn’t completely wind down until 7 or 8pm. If you want to take it in shifts, it’s not quite a 50/50 storm. We’ll get our first half in about 7 or 8 hours. The snow starts around 1am or so, so the first half will fall by 8am. The second half will take a longer time to add up — nearly 12 hours and that second shovel around 8pm.
As far as snow consistency, it’s a very run-of-the-mill storm. Overnight when the storm rolls in, it’ll be a fluffier snow for everyone but once the sun comes up and we warm up it will gradually become a wetter, heavier snow. At the coast, we have the potential to mix in a few rain drops. Even if we don’t mix, or it’s very minor, the onshore wind alone will give us a heavier, wetter snow there. For most of us it’s what I’d call a “normal” snow consistency — not a heavy, wet snow but also not the stuff you can move with a broom. The snow will be a lighter and fluffier snow in the higher elevations outside of 190.
Oh, right, the snow map. I forgot that detail. Here’s how much snow we’re forecasting. Keep in mind, you will not wake up to this much snow, it will take all day on Tuesday to get here. The one asterisk here would be the pink shading. While I think 5-8″ is a good number to encompass most of us, the typical spots like Ashby and Princeton and other towns that usually overachieve could see 9″.
So what are these alleged “pros” of the storm. Well as much as we talked about the snow being a “con”, it’s also a “pro”. Like I said earlier, it’s a long duration storm so it’s completely manageable for plows and road crews to keep up with. Additionally, snow is our only concern. There’s no wind threat and no coastal concerns with this one. That’s also a “pro”.
Now, that said, you will notice the wind, especially on the coast. We’ll see wind gusts with this storm in the 30s mph. But that’s below what we typically consider damaging criteria.
Usually damage criteria for wind gusts are the upper 40s. So while you’ll hear and feel the wind and a few smaller branches may break, the risk of power outages and snapping entire trees is just not there.
