[WED-6:50AM] SPRING IS ON THE WAY BUT NOT BEFORE SOME LIGHT ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL TODAY, AND THEN A POTENT WIND STORM SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT WITH HEAVY RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW FOR SOME… MUCH MILDER OVERALL NEXT WEEK AS WE HEAD TO THE VERNAL EQUINOX… SUPPORTED SERVICES ARE SUSTAINED, OTHERWISE THEY WITHER… YOUR ANNUAL OR MONTHLY CROWDFUNDED SUPPORT SUSTAINS THIS LOCAL COMMUNITY WEATHER RESOURCE…
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TODAY’S DATE: Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Good morning everyone, rise and raise those ‘brows, because Spring’s a comin’! The next episode of “The Mildening” on DTHWN TV airs next Monday, but before then we gotta get through some light accumulating snow today, a pair of winners to finish the week, and a potentially damaging wind storm Saturday with rain and snow, but before we dive into all of those weather details below, let’s check a note from our local and delicious sponsor, #TandemBagelCo, with a new location in West Springfield, MA.
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A NOTE FROM OUR SPONSOR:
DHTWN Is Sponsored by Members, Patrons & Tandem Bagel Company: No matter the weather, Tandem Bagel is always there for you at several valley locations to make your mornings brighter! With bagels baked fresh daily, house-whipped cream cheese, coffee, and tons of lunch options, Tandem is the perfect quick stop for lunch, breakfast, or a coffee and bagel to go. Find them in Easthampton, Northampton, Hadley, Florence (and now West Springfield!), or use their super-streamlined online ordering tool by visiting their website: https://www.tandembagelco.com
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***DHTWN WEATHER REPORT***
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DAILY CELESTIAL
–OUR STAR ROSE AT: 6:12am this morning
–OUR STAR WILL SET AT: 5:49pm this evening
–TOTAL DAYLIGHT TIME: 11 hours and 37 minutes
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–OUR MOON WILL RISE AT: 9:42am this morning
–OUR MOON WILL SET AT: 1:22am tomorrow morning
–MOON PHASE: Waxing Crescent 40.8%
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DAILY TERRESTRIAL (ZoneCast)
ZONE 1 (Northern Region)
Southern VT, Southwest NH, N. Taconics NY
–High Temps: Low to Mid 30s
–Low Temps: Mid to Upper 20s
–Wind: Calm early, then light southeast
–Skies: Overcast
–Precipitation: Snow arrives by around noon to 1pm
–Amounts: Mostly on grassy/cold surfaces 1-3″, roads whiten late
ZONE 2 (Central Region)
WMass, N. CMass, N. Litchfield County, C./S. Taconics NY
–High Temps: Low to Mid 30s
–Low Temps: Mid to Upper 20s
–Wind: Calm early, then light southeast
–Skies: Overcast
–Precipitation: Snow arrives by around 11am to Noon
–Amounts: Mostly on grassy/cold surfaces 1-3″, a few areas may see 4″, and some valley floor areas may only see a coating to 1″
ZONE 3 (Southern Region)
S. CMass, S. Litchfield County, NC.CT, & NE.CT
–High Temps: Low to Mid 30s
–Low Temps: Mid to Upper 20s
–Wind: Calm early, then light southeast
–Skies: Overcast
–Precipitation: Snow arrives by around 11am
–Amounts: Mostly on grassy/cold surfaces 1-3″, a few areas may see 4″, and some valley floor areas may only see a coating to 1″
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DISCUSSION:
Good morning everybody, we’ve got a little late winter taste to move through today with some accumulating snowfall, but it’s a minor storm to be sure, but will cause some slick spots especially in the evening around and after sunset.
The main change is that onset will be an hour or two after what it appeared to be yesterday.
This means we can expect a cloudy morning with temps in the 20s to low 30s which are expected to rise up into the low to mid 30s.
Precipitation looks to hold off its arrival to between 10:30-11am or so in northern CT and southern MA then toward the noon hour or so along and north of the Rt. 2 corridor.
At first, it may fall as light rain or rain/snow mix, but as precipitation gets steadier and as it falls into drier air, temps should cool a few degrees and produce all snow thereafter.
The “brunt” of this weak storm, occurs between say 1-5pm, or perhaps 2-6pm when the steadiest snow will fall, with snowfall rates perhaps reaching half-inch per hour for a couple of hours there, which is a moderate-intensity snowfall.
Roads should be mostly wet or have some slushy areas as this is expected to be a wet snow falling mostly during the day amidst a high March sun angle (the Sun’s rays penetrate the cloud and reach the Earth’s surface).
If the snow falls steadily enough, perhaps some high terrain sheltered side roads could become snow-covered, but the biggest risk for slick roads is between 5-9pm as the sun sets and we cool a bit before the storm totally quits, which should be by 8pm or 9pm this evening.
All in all, 1-3″ looks to be a reasonable expectation, mostly on grassy/cold surfaces, with some valley areas possibly seeing a coating to 1″, and some high elevation areas seeing more like 2-4″.
As the Mary Tyler Moore theme concludes, we’re gonna make it after all! #Meow
For tonight, lows will dip into the mid to upper 20s as we clear late with weak high pressure zipping through the region.
For Thursday and Friday, we’ll have a pair of early Spring days to enjoy, with highs in the mid to upper 40s and mostly sunny skies Thursday, and partly sunny skies on Friday.
Lows Thursday night dip into the 20s, with lows Friday night hanging in the 30s with clouds increasing.
Saturday continues to look like a very stormy day.
We’ll be plenty mild to start things off as rain, as this storm is unlikely to track purely east of us.
At the moment, it will be phasing with an upper level trough well northwest and coupling with a strong upper jet stream to cause rapidly developing low pressure at the surface, which should run right over eastern MA, or perhaps the Cape.
This means rain arrives in the morning, and possibly turns to snow in the Berkshires, western hilltowns and southern VT by afternoon sometime, depending on exact track.
Light to moderate accumulations are possible in those areas, with a mix of rain and snow in the valley, and light accumulations can’t be ruled out there either.
There’s lots to fine tune with this one, so I am going to focus on today’s system, but suffice it to say that the wind potential with Saturday afternoon/evening’s storm is concerning.
If it continues to trend, we should at least see Wind Advisories issued by NWS by tomorrow or Friday, and we can’t rule out High Wind Watches being hoisted either, with a potential for outages and wind damage, so stay tuned.
After that, we get a cold blustery Sunday, and then The Mildening commences next week!
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