For The Rest Of This Afternoon: Cloudy skies are expected throughout the rest of this afternoon across the entire area. In addition, some scattered snow flurries are possible during the rest of this afternoon across Central Mass.
Temperatures will be between 25 and 30 Degrees. Winds will be East to Northeast at 5 to 10 mph.
1 To 2 Inches Of Snow Across Western Mass & 2 To 4 Inches Of Snow With Locally Higher Amounts Is Expected From Late Tonight Through Saturday: A strong Arctic cold front combined with an inverted trough of low pressure will make for a pretty dynamic weather system that affects our weather with snow from late tonight through Saturday.
There is expected to be quite a bit of forcing and lift from the Arctic front that’ll combine with Atlantic moisture being pushed northwestward by that inverted trough. This will lead to snow to occur across the entire area starting between midnight and 3 am Saturday morning and lasting through all day Saturday before it comes to an end by early Saturday evening.
This is going to be a difficult snowfall forecast as that inverted trough is likely to set up some narrow bands of enhanced snowfall leading to areas of moderate to heavy snow. The big question is where will these moderate to heavy snow bands set up & this is going to be important for the forecast.
My thinking as of right now is that snow amounts of 1 to 2 inches should occur across Western Mass & 2 to 4 inches of snow accumulations looks to occur across Central Mass.
As for where I think these heavy snow bands will set up – I think that areas from near and east of I-395 to around the Worcester Metro eastward through the I-290 corridor could see local amounts of up to 5 to 6 inches. That being said, this is the part of the forecast that’s highly uncertain & any slight differences in where these heavy snow bands set up will lead to large changes in the forecast snow amount for any one location. This means that there will be large differences in the amount of snow accumulates from one town to another with this storm.
To Sum Things Up – Snow overspreads all of Western and Central Mass between about midnight and 3 am Saturday morning. The snow is then expected to continue throughout the day on Saturday and will come to an end by early Saturday evening. Bands of moderate to possibly heavy snow may set up from late Saturday morning through Saturday afternoon in the area from near and east of I-395 northward to the Worcester Metro & then eastward along I-290. I have highlighted the area of possible moderate to heavy snow in the snow forecast map attached.
My forecast snow totals for late tonight and Saturday can be found with the map attached to this post.
Low temperatures tonight will be between 15 and 20 Degrees. Temperatures on Saturday will peak at between 20 and 25 Degrees during the morning & will then fall into the teens during the afternoon.
Winds tonight will be South to Southeast at around 5 mph before midnight and North at 5 to 10 mph after midnight. Winds on Saturday will be North at 5 to 10 mph in the morning and North to Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph in the afternoon. Blowing and drifting of snow can be expected during Saturday afternoon due to the gusty winds.
Dangerously Cold Wind Chill Temperatures Are Expected On Saturday Night, Sunday & Sunday night: Very cold temperatures combined with northwest winds that’ll gust up to to 35-40 mph will lead to dangerously cold wind chill temperatures throughout Saturday night, Sunday & Sunday night. There will be a high risk for frostbite throughout Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night & because of this, those of you that have to be outdoors for an extended period of time, bundle up. Frostbite may occur in as little as 20 to 30 minutes during Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night.
Saturday night looks to start out cloudy with any leftover snow ending by early evening. Skies will then become clear to partly cloudy during the after midnight hours. Low temperatures will be between 5 below zero and 10 below zero. Winds will be Northwest at 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph. Dangerously cold wind chill temperatures of 30 below zero to 35 below zero are expected during Saturday night.
Superbowl Sunday (Go Pats!!) is expected to be sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures of only around 10 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph leading to wind chill temperatures of 20 below zero to 30 below zero in the morning and around 10 below zero in the afternoon.
Sunday night looks clear with low temperatures around 5 below zero. Winds will be Northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 30-35 mph leading to wind chill temperatures of around 30 below zero.
Monday Through Tuesday: Monday looks sunny with high temperatures between 20 and 25 Degrees.
Tuesday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures near 25 Degrees.
Maybe Another Storm Around Wednesday Into Thursday Of Next Week: It appears quite possible that another storm system might affect our area from Wednesday through Thursday of next week. That being said, there is considerable disagreement with the various weather forecast guidance on where exactly this storm will track in relation to our area & what sort of impacts will occur across our area.
Some of the weather forecast guidance point to another storm that tracks near the south coast of New England, which would lead to a moderate sized snowstorm across the entire area from Wednesday into Thursday. Other weather forecast guidance are showing a more inland track which would lead to a messy mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain from Wednesday into Thursday.
Given the amount of cold air locked into place across New England into southern Canada, I’m leaning more towards the idea of a colder storm track that causes the storm to track just to our south. This means that I lean more towards an all snow event that drops something like 2 to 5 inches of snow.
I will be keeping an eye on the midweek storm & will have updates for you as needed.
