BRIEF WESTERLY WIND PUNCH POSSIBLE TONIGHT BETWEEN 9-11PM… WARM FRONT STILL STRUGGLING TO LIFT THROUGH THE PIONEER VALLEY, NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY, AND SVT/SWNH EAST OF BENNINGTON COUNTY VT… 2:05pm Sat…
Good afternoon folks, we’ve got a powerful storm system that is still strengthening and deepening near Lake Huron and heading northeast into Canada set to wind up into a 970mb low center, which is very strong/powerful.
As that storm makes progress northeast, our warm front will slowly get dragged along with it and through the region, but the cold air southward kink in the temperature gradient still has the Pioneer Valley from Brattleboro VT to Hartford CT in the cooler climes for the moment.
It’s in the 50s in Berkshire County, Litchfield County, even in southwest VT, and it has hit 60º in northeast CT up into southern Worcester County!
But not in the valley, no no no, we get all the fun here – disappointing snowstorms, and cool raw days when folks east or west get some milder temps, yay valley!
Anyway, we’re still in the 30s and 40s, but the mild air will get in here eventually, and wind gusts out of the south or southwest will blow 25-35mph at times where ever we fully enter the 50s for temperatures.
We’ll see some isolated showers at times this afternoon, as well as misty/drizzly periods, under overcast skies.
By evening time the wind gusts of 25-40mph will pick up as we get closer to the cold frontal passage, which takes place between 9-11pm, generally speaking, from the Berkshires to Worcester County in terms of longitude.
Some southerly gusts may reach the 40mph range or so closer to 9pm, and showers will become more numerous.
Then the cold front sweeps through the region, and it really could feel like a punch of westerly wind that may peak into the 50-60mph range briefly.
This is fast enough to cause isolated to scattered power outages, and you will know when the front comes through, it won’t be tough to tell it’s happening.
As James Taylor famously croons, when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around, and that applies tonight.
Any peak wind gusts of this magnitude shouldn’t be super long lasting, and then westerlies will tamp down to the 25-40mph range overnight, lasting into Sunday as we clear and dry out.
I will post again before 7pm with an update as we get closer to the wind shift.
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PATCHY FREEZING RAIN THIS MORNING… NEW WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR FRANKLIN COUNTY THIS MORNING, AND OLD WWA’s CONTINUE FOR SVT, SWNH, AND N. WORCESTER COUNTY… WIND ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN HOISTED REGION-WIDE FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT… A SHOWERY BUT INCREASINGLY MILD SATURDAY IS ON TAP, WITH GUSTY WINDS PICKING UP LATER IN THE AFTERNOON… STRONG WINDS FROM SOUTH TO WEST WILL CAUSE SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES TONIGHT WITH GUSTS UP TO 55MPH POSSIBLE WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE… THUNDER POSSIBLE… EXTRA 2022 WEATHER CALENDARS AVAILABLE… 6:50am Sat…
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Good morning everybody, we’ve got temps at or below freezing in parts of our area, so freezing rain is no doubt laying down some patches of ice glaze on surfaces this morning in northern MA (western and central), southern VT and southwest NH.
This will continue for another couple of hours, before temps warm up enough to stop the icing process.
Please post below if you are seeing ice accretion, slippery surfaces at your home or place of work.
Our warm front is draped through PA and over to the south coast and will slowly lift north and east today through the WMass region.
The problem is that we have cold air at the surface in the valley, and the powerful, deepening storm out near the western Great Lakes is far enough away that the speed of the front is fairly slow, so that cold air will be tough to scour out right away.
This means that areas in the Berkshires and Worcester hills will rise into the 50s by early afternoon, whereas the valley may sit in the upper 30s to 40s for a time, before the front finally overspreads the entire region by late afternoon and early evening, when everyone should be well into the 50s.
Showers will heavy at times earlier this morning, with a rumble of thunder possible. By late morning or noon they should become more scattered, lighter.
By later afternoon the southerly and southwesterly winds should pick up and start gusting 25-35mph, and eventually up to 45mph before the cold front passes through closer to midnight.
Speaking of our cold front, it is now slated to swing through the region between 9pm and midnight from west to east, and you will absolutely notice it when it does!!
Rain showers will pick back up this early evening and a thunderstorm or two is possible, with briefly heavy rain.
As the front approaches, we’re going to have an upper level jet streak ripping way above our heads, as well as a sharp temperature gradient along the front (very mild ahead, very cold behind). This combined with pretty strong pressure differences on either side of the front may cause a spike of wind tonight as it the front veers winds out of the south to the west, and that is when we could see gusts peak at 40-55mph, maybe even 60mph briefly.
This will cause some isolated to scattered power outages tonight, which is why the Wind Advisories have been hoisted region-wide by the NWS.
Lows will drop into the low to mid 30s behind the front, and west winds will continue to gust up to 35mph or so toward dawn and into Sunday, which will become increasingly sunny with highs in the upper 30s to mid 40s, and with lows in the upper 20s to low 30s as wind slacken.
Next week looks fair with giant high pressure areas dominating our sensible weather, with milder highs well into the 40s to near 50º and lows in the upper 20s to mid 30s, generally speaking.
I will dial those specifics in as we get closer, but suffice it to say that A. The weather looks mostly nice and fair next week, and B. I need to focus on the next 24 hours, which I will be doing and updating you again around the middle of the day, and again around sunset, so please stay tuned for updates to our dynamic and changing weather today and tonight. Thank you…
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Are you looking for calendars or gifts last minute?
Order Dave’s 2022 Weather Wall Calendar (while supplies last):
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Thank you…