Good morning everybody, on early mornings like this when the slop is falling and I’m in a more contemplative mood, I think of weird things.
Today, I think of how many individual taps on the keyboard have I tapped out in writing these reports for you to read and digest over the past almost 9 years.
I think it’s safe to say, it’s been MANY TAPS.
As for our weather this morning, the precip shield is broken up to our southwest as drier air works into the mid levels, shutting down precipitation over portions of PA and NY which is “upstream” of the WMass region.
That means, that a drier lull is heading our way for mid morning, I’d say.
Until then, it’s a mix of light snow north of Route 2 for the most part, and light sleet and freezing rain from north to south causing slippery conditions in spots, so give yourself a little extra time if you’re headed out on the road ways early this morning.
As dawn comes and the morning wears on, precip will become more sporadic and lighten even more, with freezing drizzle and drizzle possible when no mixed showers are falling.
Highs today should reach the low to mid 30s in the Berkshires, Taconics, southern VT, southwest NH and the western hilltowns, with mid to upper 30s in the valley, CMass, and northern CT. Winds will be light.
Through the afternoon, it looks like a coating to 2″ does it from south to north through the region (maybe 3″ up in SVT), with some light coatings of sleet and freezing rain, maybe up to a tenth of an inch or so in spots. Nobody is losing power from this storm.
That does it for round one, more lackluster than originally thought, but something to heed regardless, as all you need is a trace of ice to cause problems.
After the lull during the afternoon (which could still cause icing in the high terrain, so don’t snooze on that), rain and possibly freezing rain in the high terrain from system #2 will arrive by evening.
There is a chance that areas west of the CT River and north of Route 2 will only see a few showers of rain or freezing rain depending on your elevation, whereas east of there, more of a solid rain shield (which should be moderate to heavy, at times) should track northeast into the region.
Lows will drop into the low to mid 30s tonight, generally with some icing in the high terrain, rain in the low terrain, and patchy fog will form in spots too.
For Friday, the potential for SVT and northwesternmost MA (northern Berkshires and western Franklin County) to see a period of accumulating snow still exists during Friday afternoon. However, uncertainty remains as to whether or not our second storm and its precip shield will not already be lifting north and east by the time it wraps in enough cold air, as it will be tracking right over the WMass region, it would appear.
An additional 1-4″ of snow would be possible in those areas, but I will have to update tonight after this first round gets through.
Highs Friday will be in the low to mid 30s in the Berkshires, Taconics, western hilltowns and SVT/SWNH, but push to near 40 degrees in the valley, CMass and northern CT, which means more mixed showers Friday morning for the high terrain and rain in the low elevations.
By afternoon, colder air works in at all levels, and wherever precip is falling, should turn to snow from NW to SE with time, with the best chance of additional accumulations being in SVT, northern Taconics, northern Berkshire County and the northwestern hilltowns of Hampshire and Franklin County.
As colder air works in and the storm departs to the east, west winds will gust over 30mph at times, maybe higher. Temps will plummet into the single digits over SVT, and the low to mid teens over the rest of the region, so black ice will be an issue by early Saturday morning in spots.
The weekend looks fair, sunny and cold. Highs will be in the 20s Saturday with lows in the single digits as winds relax.
Sunday looks like highs in the 30s with lows in the 20s as clouds increase and some light snow is possible Sunday night into Monday, with milder temps during the first half of the week and more disturbances set to arrive next week.
Have a great day, and please post any condition reports below that you have. Thank you!