Good evening folks, it was a cold but lovely day. It was nice to get outside for a walk without having every last hair from my receding hairline being blown away and carried off into yonder hills and dales.
But, you know, my Bozo The Clown look must be completed come hell or high water, so thanks Mother Nature! You rock!
As for our sensible weather details, I’m going to do the sensible thing a weather nut should do after folks have lived a long day, and both invoke AND employ the fairly-skim-friendly double dashes, with haste.
WINTER INFORMS WMASS IT’S LARGE AND IN CHARGE
–For tonight, temps drop off fairly quickly.
–We’re already in upper teens in the Berkshires, western hills, and SVT, and 20s elsewhere at 7pm
–Lows will drop into the upper singles to low teens, with a calm wind and some high clouds moving through
–For Tuesday, we cloud up
–Highs will reach the upper 20s to low 30s
–The storm that ejected east-northeast out of Oklahoma after bringing lots of snow to the center of the country will track through the southern Great Lakes and into NY state
–As it does so, it will weaken and pass some energy off to a secondary coastal low that will develop off of the DelMarVa Peninsula and track east and out to sea to our south
–Still, we will see a warm frontal front-end thump of snow, starting by mid afternoon tomorrow west of I-91, and more toward the later afternoon into northeast CT, CMass and southwest NH
–This front-end steadier period of snowfall should last into later pre-midnight hours, before some drier air works into the region around or after midnight
–When this happens, the lift produced by this storm will not be enough to get up into the prime temperature region aloft to produce steady/heavier snow
–As such, we should go over to periods of scattered snow showers after midnight into Wednesday morning, and may even see some light sleet or freezing drizzle develop
–Lows will be in the low to mid 20s
–A wide swath of 2-4″ of snow should accumulate by midnight, with some higher amounts in the Berkshires, western hills on up into SVT, maybe even up to half a foot in spots
–Wednesday morning should see some more snow showers, which could last into the afternoon with additional coatings to an inch or so
–Highs will reach the low to mid 30s with lows in the 20s as snow showers come to an end and our system dissipates
–By Thursday, another more powerful low will be existing the Virginia/NC coastline, and will absolutely bomb out over the western Atlantic Ocean
–After highs reach the mid 20s to low 30s on Thursday under mostly cloudy skies, super cold Arctic air now positioned over James Bay, Canada (the southern nub of Hudson Bay) will be yanked southeast into New England, starting Thursday night.
–Folks, Thursday night through Saturday night will be joke re: cold. Prepare thy up-bundling activities!
–Wind will be starting to pick up as air rushes through New England on its way to wrap around the departing ocean low, and lows will crash into the single digits
–Friday? FAWGEDDABOUTIT.
–Mostly sunny, yes, but highs 10-15º with northwest winds gusting to 30mph means wind chills in the single digits below zero – during the day
–At night? WMass becomes Hoth.
–Lows 0-5º, and wind chills heading to 15-25º below zero. It’s hard to believe we won’t see some Wind Chill Advisories put up
–Saturday we moderate… to the mid teens to low 20s for highs, woot!
–Again, at least it will be sunny across the region as high pressure moves through the region.
–Lows will again be in the single digits with slackening wind, praise be!
–Sunday into Monday looks like a potential for snow showers, but the big signal is Monday night into Tuesday, when a major winter storm could track just south of Long Island and bring snow and possibly some sleet into the region as our Arctic Polar Vortex chunk of love lifts northeast and out of the region in time for more snow potential
–Thereafter, we should see a milder period with an inland running storm that could bring some rain showers here, but we have a lot of systems and altered streamflows to observe, so we will deal with things as they come… kind of like life, no?
Have a great night, and see you in the morning!!
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[ACCUMULATING SNOW ON THE WAY FOR THE WMASS REGION LATER TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING… A LIGHT SNOWFALL, BUT PLOWS MAY NEED TO COME OUT IN SOME COMMUNITIES… VERY COLD AIR ARRIVES THURSDAY AND ESPECIALLY FRIDAY AS A POLAR VORTEX CHUNK DIVES INTO NEW ENGLAND FOR A WINTER PARTY… A COASTAL SNOWSTORM CONTINUES TO BE SIGNALED FOR LATE ON THE 1ST OF FEB… MONDAY 6:50AM]
Good morning folks, things continue to look more wintry for us here in the WMass region through the first couple of days of February. While a possible mildening event remains after our potential coastal storm a week from now (potentially aided and abetted by an inside runner milder storm near the end of the first February week), we’ve got Winter conditions to deal with over the next 7 days.
For today, any remnant wind gusts to 15-20mph early this morning will abate as high pressure spreads east into the region, which will slacken the wind.
Highs will reach the mid 20s to low 30s from high terrain to low under mostly sunny skies. Some high clouds are possible late in the day. Lows tonight will drop into the low to mid teens as clouds continue to lower and thicken.
For Tuesday, overcast skies develop and highs should reach the upper 20s to low 30s with a light north wind.
A storm system now located over Oklahoma will track northeast into western New York state and Pennsylvania by Tuesday.
This will produce a warm frontal snow shield that will over-run the cold air in place at the surface, allowing for light to perhaps moderate-at-times snowfall to develop across WMass, SVT and northwest CT by mid-afternoon, and then spread east into the rest of northern CT, CMass and southwest NH during the early evening.
There will be some dry air to overcome at first, so the timing of snow reaching the ground may change a bit, but snow is on the way.
Snow looks to fall lightly but steadily overnight (with lows in the low to mid 20s) and last into Wednesday morning, which could affect travelers later Tuesday night and those commuting on Wednesday morning.
I would not be surprised to see Winter Weather Advisories hoisted for parts of, if not most of, our region by the NWS later today or early tomorrow, given that it appears we should see a 2-4″ accumulation. Some areas of the northern Berkshires into the southern Greens may see more like 3-6″, and we can’t rule out a few 1-2″ amounts scattered in the general 2-4″ I am expecting at the moment.
Highs on Wednesday will reach the low to mid 30s as steady snow abates by late morning. However, some scattered snow showers are still possible through Wednesday night, especially in CMass, so we can’t rule out additional coatings by Thursday morning. Lows Wednesday night drop into the low to mid 20s.
On Thursday, a powerful cyclone will blast east off of the Virginia coastline, and I mean due east. It will leave us alone precipitation-wise, but there is VERY frigid air up near Hudson Bay, Canada and points west, as in WAY below zero.
A chunk of modified Arctic air will be pulled southeast, down and into New England by Thursday night, after a mostly cloudy Thursday with highs in the upper 20s to low 30s.
By Thursday night, northwest winds will pick back up and gust up to 30mph at times with lows in the single digits. This will produce wind chills in the single digits below zero at times, but it will be dry.
Friday and Friday night will be the coldest 24 hours yet this Winter season.
While skies look partly to mostly sunny, highs will only be in the teens on Friday!! With northwest winds gusting to 30mph, wind chills will be in the single digits to near zero, and at night, lows will drop to the low singles, with continued blustery conditions. I imagine some Wind Chill Advisories may end up being hoisted by the fine and hard-working meteorologists out of the NWS in Norton (Boston office), but we shall see how conditions look as we get closer.
Saturday looks quite cold as well with highs in the low 20s under mostly sunny skies and highs in the single digits as high pressure presses through the region.
The Sunday/Monday timeframe is one to watch for potential winter storminess and more snow, but for now, it’s just a mental bookmark for you to stay tuned for updates as we get closer.
I will update again this evening regarding tomorrow’s light to possibly moderate snowstorm.
Have a great day!