LIGHT SNOW EXPECTED DURING FRIDAY MORNING WITH A COATING TO AN INCH FOR MOST, WITH UP TO 2″ IN THE BERKSHIRES, NW HILLTOWNS, AND SVT… BLUSTERY OVERNIGHT TONIGHT AND VERY COLD… LIGHT SNOW/RAIN MIX EXPECTED FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING… 6:35pm Wed…
Good evening everybody, just a quick update post for you as we head toward the holiday weekend.
We start with a blustery and cold night ahead with lows in the mid teens to low 20s and northwest winds gusting 25-40mph (we’ve already clocked a 43mph gust in Adams, MA earlier, and 40mph up near Bennington, VT).
Wind chill readings will get down to near 0º at times, but mainly live in the single digits and teens.
The wind is the result of this morning’s system deepening over Nova Scotia, while high pressure, well, presses its higher pressure into the lower pressure over New England, creating a solid gradient that is resulting in our gusty winds this afternoon and overnight.
For tomorrow, winds will relax a bit, but should still be gusting 20-25mph under mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid 20s to low 30s – a winter day!
High clouds will build late, and clouds will then thicken and lower overnight as an Alberta Clipper system races east-southeast on a beeline for New England.
Lows tomorrow night will be COLD, in the upper teens to low 20s, so any snow that falls is going to stick and cause slippery travel before dawn on Friday morning.
A coating to an inch should do it for most of us, but up to 2″ is possible in the Berkshires, western hilltowns, and southern VT into the Monadnock Region of NH.
Highs Friday will reach the mid to upper 30s with partly sunny skies developing by afternoon.
Because we’re in a zonal flow (i.e. west to east), it’s zippy – pushing weaker, moisture-starved disturbances and frontal boundaries across the northern part of the U.S. and southern Canada.
This pattern will result in a weak systems every couple of days, or sometimes one right after another, which is what will happen for Christmas morning.
A warm front will approach late Christmas Eve, and allow snow showers to move into the region into the pre-dawn hours of Christmas morning.
It remains to be seen how organized this precip shield is going to be, which would affect any accumulations.
It will be cold, with lows in the mid 20s, but I’m just not sure if we’ll get much more than some coatings by dawn on Christmas before we start to mix with sleet and rain.
Any wintry precip should mostly change to some rain showers on Christmas Day as highs reach the 35-40º range.
By sometime in the afternoon everything should wind down, and lows Christmas night look to bottom out in the upper 20s to low 30s.
After that, the Sunday into early-next-week period looks murky.
We should be dealing with at least one if not two weak systems that could bring more mixed snow and rain showers, but no big storms are in sight, so we’ll resolve those details when we get closer.
For now, stay warm, and get ready for what looks like some festive snow by Friday morning.
Have a great night, folks…
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6:45AM-WED: MULTIPLE ACCIDENTS THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING DUE TO FREEZING RAIN WITH ICING REPORTS FROM WESTFIELD, MA, TO TURNERS FALLS, UP TO GUILFORD, VT, AND LIKELY IN BETWEEN OVER MANY AREAS… WHAT ARE YOU SEEING WHERE YOU LIVE? WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES CONTINUE FOR THE ENTIRE REGION, TAKE YOUR TIME ON ROAD WAYS THIS MORNING THROUGH MID MORNING OR SO… LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATION FRIDAY MORNING, WITH MORE RAIN AND SNOW EARLY CHRISTMAS MORNING… BOTH SYSTEMS ARE WEAKER LOOKING…
Good morning everybody, we’ve got multiple reports of icing with motor vehicle accidents out there, along with dog-walking woes and other assorted B.S. that comes with overnight / early-morning freezing rain events, but before jump into the details, I’ve got a note from our local and delicious sponsor, #TandemBagelCo, with a new location in West Springfield, MA.
A NOTE FROM OUR SPONSOR:
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WEATHER BULLETIN:
–Good morning everybody, we have freezing rain ongoing in many areas this morning
–This has caused multiple accidents and hazardous driving conditions for some areas
–While some folks are just seeing plain rain with temperatures just above freezing at 33 or 34º, others are in the upper 20s to low 30s which is cold enough for rain to freeze upon hitting surfaces, including roads
–These pockets of freezing rain, freezing drizzle and plain rain will track northeast through the region until mid to late morning, with the freezing rain threat ending by around 9am
–Eventually, skies will brighten in the afternoon and we’ll get a partly sunny day in for our Wednesday with highs in the upper 30s to low 40s
–A frontal boundary will pass east of the region, and with high pressure working toward the region, gusty winds of 25-40mph (highest at elevation) will blow out of the northwest this afternoon AND tonight
–With low temps plummeting into the mid teens to low 20s tonight, wind chills could be as low as 0º overnight, so bundle up!
–For Thursday, we’ll have a breezy, cold day with highs in the mid to upper 30s under mostly sunny skies, with high clouds increasing late
–At night, clouds will thicken, and a little Clipper system will track east-southeast into the WMass region and overspread light snow throughout our neck of the woods
–Lows will be in the low 20s and a coating to an inch of snow is expected by Friday morning
–On Friday / Christmas Eve, we’ll see that little Clipper low take off to the east, and leave us with a partly sunny day and highs in the mid to upper 30s
–For Christmas Eve, clouds will thicken, and another storm system will likely push its warm front into our region
–This will produce snow and sleet overnight, likely after midnight, and that snow and sleet should change to rain by some point on Christmas morning *insert Debbie Downer sound here*
–Mixed rain and snow showers may continue into the afternoon with highs in the mid to upper 30s on Christmas Day
–On Christmas Night, a few snow showers are possible with lows in the upper 20s
–We’ll have to watch the Sunday through Tuesday period for the potential of another quick-moving storm system or two, but we’re in a zonal flow (meaning, west to east) and so none of these systems are very moisture-rich going forward, and they’re fast movers, so nothing blockbuster-ish is on the horizon to close out 2021
I hope you have a great day, and take it easy on the roads this morning if you must travel!