ACCUMULATING SNOW POTENTIAL HAS INCREASED FOR SVT, THE BERKSHIRES, THE TACONICS, AND THE LITCHFIELD HILLS, AND THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS IN THE WESTERN HILLTOWNS FOR LATER FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING… ISOLATED WIND DAMAGE POSSIBLE AS WELL FROM DEPARTING COASTAL STORM… THURSDAY IS RAINY AND SNOWY VERY EARLY/VERY LATE FOR HIGH TERRAIN BUT FRIDAY INTO FIRST HALF OF SATURDAY COULD BE IMPACTFUL FOR SOME… NEW ENGLAND WEATHER CONTINUES TO KEEP ME ON MY TOES… (7:10PM TUES)

Good evening everybody, we certainly had another winner out there today, though it was on the cool side to be sure. In addition, as expected there were some flurries and snow showers in western CT and up into the Taconics, Berkshires and SVT.

We’ll get quite cold tonight, with lows dropping into the low 20s under partly to mostly clear skies.

After one more sunny (and milder!) day with highs in the 40s in SVT, but in the upper 40s to low 50s in WMass, CMass, and NCT, we’ve got winter weather impacts to talk about. Some are Springy, and some are Wintry.

Yes yes, but Dave you said Spring was coming! And it is! But it’s March in New England, and BLEEP happens. More to the point, while the pattern IS getting milder and more Spring-like, some wintry reversions are possible, and I did mention last week that the third week in March could provide a final winter shot.

Now to be clear, the potential for wintry impacts in the discussion below are mostly going to be relegated to the high terrain of the Bacon, Lettuce, Green Tomatoes on WHole WHeat regional sandwich (Berkshires, Litchfields, Greens, Taconics, and western hilltowns).

Yes, I know that what I just wrote was the corniest, hokey-est, most unfunny thing ever. I do reserve the right to be dumb.

Clearly, I’m here to serve, and having just caused an abundance of groans, and dozens of eye rolls, allow me to continue. #BozoTheClownOvahHeah

LIGHTER TO NO WINTRY IMPACTS
The floor of the Pioneer Valley in WMass down into north-central and northeast CT and east into southern Worcester County should see mostly rain showers over the Thursday through Saturday morning period.

Some lighter wintry impacts are possible in southwest NH and eastern Franklin County into N. Worcester County, but it’s the high terrain west of the CT River that I am concerned about.

HILLTOWNERS: HEADS UP
If you are a hilltowner, or mountain dweller, please do share this post, because if the worst materializes, we could see some folks with half a foot or so of heavy wet pasty snow with wind gusts out of the NW 40-50mph Friday night into Saturday morning causing some outages and tough travel.

DISCUSSION
We’ve got a tale of two storm systems. Three systems, really. It’s quite complex, but there are three pulses of weather coming at us from Thursday morning into Saturday morning, bringing rain, potentially damaging wind, and accumulating snow/sleet.

SYSTEM 1
We have an upper level trough that is going to dig south into the eastern Great Lakes region to our west. With high pressure to our east Wednesday night, a low pressure system tracking northeast towards our region while staying out ahead of the upper trough (to the trough’s southeast) will be taken up in this southwest flow.

As this storm moves in late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, cold-enough air looks to be in place to produce light accumulating snow of the wet variety in SVT (generally west of Brattleboro) as well as possibly the northern Berkshires, central/northern Taconics, and maybe in westernmost Franklin and Hampshire Counties.

I would say a coating to 2″ or so is possible, while the rest of us see rainfall, or some snow mixed with rain, but then changing to rain as the morning wears on Thursday.

Even the mountain areas should change to rain on Thursday. That’s System 1.

SYSTEM 2
As rainfall is underway on Thursday, as we go into the afternoon, a coastal low pressure system will develop off the east coast and track northeast somewhere into southern New England. This is uncertain. Does it move into eastern CT? Does it track over Nantucket? We shall see.

The bottom line is that precipitation and rain fall is likely to increase in the afternoon and evening, with some folks seeing over an inch of water.

If the storm tracks far enough east, the areas that saw snow early Thursday morning could flip back to snow briefly going into the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning with additional coatings possible. That’s System 2.

SYSTEM 3 (MOST IMPACT POTENTIAL)
As our coastal low tracks into the Gulf of Maine it is going to bomb out and bring a heavy snow storm to northern New England.

At the same time time, high pressure will be moving into the Ohio Valley, while an upper level low dives southeast into the northern New York area.

The resulting pressure gradient will produce wind gusts 30-50mph over the high terrain, and a bit less over the valley.

In addition, with the additional upper level energy, the strong northwest winds, and remnant moisture, we should see numerous snow showers all day Friday, Friday night and into early Saturday morning across the high terrain, which will produce additional snow accumulations the way it looks now.

If said upper low tracks more southerly, it could produce more lift in the atmosphere and strengthen those upslope snow showers, and this is why I am saying that some folks could see one of those overachieving 4-8″ upslope snowfalls in SVT, the northern Berkshires, northern Taconics, and even into the westernmost hilltowns, especially western Franklin County.

If that does happen, wind and snow could combine to produce some power outages in those woody necks.

We shall see how it all plays out, but I wanted to alert you of this late-season winter weather potential.

DHTWN SECURE SUPPORT LINK:

Saturday afternoon and night looks cold and blustery with highs in the mid to upper 30s, and lows in the 20s, before our sweet sunny Sunday. A sundae of a day, really, with highs in the low to mid 50s.

Ok, that about does it for now, have a great night, and I will keep you updated!
————
SPRING ARRIVES TOMORROW, BUT STARTS OFF WITH A TASTE OF OUR DEPARTING WINTER, ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGH TERRAIN… THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY LOOKS UNSETTLED WITH RAIN FOR MANY, BUT SNOW OR MIXED RAIN AND SNOW FOR SOME… IMPROVEMENTS BY SUNDAY… (8:10am Tuesday)

Good morning everybody, fortunately for us we have a couple of more nice days to enjoy before our late-week meteorological inclemency period arrives.

As I had mentioned, it was this third week in March period that held the chance for some wintry weather, and while we’re not going to get dumped with a foot heavy wet snow, things are getting more interesting as we approach this period, so let’s go into a list mode together and dive down the rabbit hole together. Summary first, Discussion thereafter…

SUMMARY
–Mostly sunny, few flurries late in the western mountain region, highs upper 30s to low 40s
–Lows tonight in the low 20s, mostly clear, calm
–Sunny tomorrow, southwest flow, highs 45-50 degrees
–Lows in the low 30s with clouds increasing tomorrow night
–Rain and snow showers Thursday morning, with light accumulations possible in SVT, Taconics, Berkshires, western hills
–Highs Thursday in the low to mid 40s
–Additional showers of rain and snow possible Thursday night
–Wind develops behind Gulf of Maine low development, additional rain/snow showers possible, which may continue into Saturday
–Nice and warmer on Sunday, sunny highs near 50

DISCUSSION
–While high pressure builds into and through the region today, we will see a very cold pool of air makes its final swipe a mile above our heads
–This cold pool of air will combine with an upper level system that will produce enough lift to combine with lake effect snow showers to bring a few flurries into the BLGTs (Berkshires, Litchfields, Greens and Taconics) late today
–Otherwise, some partly cloudy skies out that way later today, with sunny skies for all of us for much if not all the day, with highs in the upper 30s to low 40s
–Tonight, any flurries dissipate and we’re left with partly to mostly clear skies with lows in the low 20s
–Tomorrow, high pressure moves east and we warm under sunny skies
–Highs will reach the mid to upper 40s, with a few spots touching 50 degrees. Lows will be in the low 30s as we cloud up
–On Thursday, we are going to see a northern stream system attempt to dig a bit more south into NY state and try to hook up with low pressure moving through the southeast U.S., and pull some of that moisture up and into New England
–Temps will be marginal, but precipitation may get in here early enough Thursday morning, and fall heavily enough, to cause 1-3″ of snow to fall over the southern Green Mountains in SVT, and possibly a coating to an inch in the Taconics, Berkshires and western Franklin County
–This should all turn to rain showers as the day wears on, even for mountain areas as southwest flow is established with highs in the 40s for everyone
–As a coastal storm track nearer to the Cape and the Islands, rain showers or mixed rain/snow showers may continue Thursday night
–In addition, additional energy dives southeast through southern Quebec to merge with this coastal low and blow it up over the Gulf of Maine, where a real late winter storm is possible
–For us here in southwestern New England, that could mean additional rain and snow showers Friday, with an increase in wind that lasts into Saturday with more mixed showers possible
–Conditions look to improve and warm for Sunday

Ok folks, that does it for now, I will be refining things for you as we get closer to this Thursday through Saturday period.

For now, we’ve got a couple of beauties out there, so enjoy! Have a great day!