Good morning folks, we’ve got a rambunctious Clipper system passing north of us today as it rips east-northeast far northern VT (a bit south of the expected track a day or two ago) and setting sail for northwest Atlantic Ocean by late this week. It’s still passing NORTH of us, which means we’re on its mild side, hence the expectation for valley / low-terrain rainfall today.

However, we’ve had a lot of antecedent cold air in place along with snow pack in WMass on north, so the high terrain (especially west of I-91 in far NW.CT, MA, and VT) will see the most in terms of accumulating snow from this system (see my snow totals section below the Nutshell above).

Highs will be mild today, reaching the mid 30s to low 40s with light snow starting in far northwest MA and SVT by late morning, though most of the precip will be moving into the region this afternoon and evening (a pretty quick hit between 2-10pm, for the most part).

SNOW AMOUNTS: A coating to 2” of snow is expected in N. Litchfield, southern Berkshires, western hilltowns, northern CMass and SWNH. 2-5” is expected in the central and northern Berkshires / Taconics into much of SVT, with 5-10” in the spine of the southern Greens.

High terrain snow and valley rainfall concludes before midnight, though some mix or snow may reach the valley before the end of it as colder air starts moving in with a cold front.

As lows drop into the 20s overnight, the wind is going to really pick up behind the cold front, and some scattered upslope snow showers are possible overnight as well, with some fresh coatings in the Berkshires or SVT.

Thursday looks BLUSTERY with a strong low level jet moving overhead, and with much colder air moving in aloft, the lapse rates (i.e. the rate of change in decreasing temperature from surface to sky) will become steeper which allow stronger wind aloft to mix down to the surface.

This means that westerly gusts of 30-50mph are possible on Thursday INTO Thursday night, so Wind advisories may end up being hoisted by the NWS for areas like the Berkshires or SVT (remember, “hoisted” refers to old storm warning flags being raised for an active event… synonyms are posted, active, happening, etc.).

Highs Thursday will peak in the morning and fall during the day with highs either side of 30º falling through the 20s by later in the day with wind chills in the single digits to perhaps below zero in some mountainous areas as lows drop into the teens at night with a few snow showers possible.

Friday is blustery too, but gusts should sit down to the 25-35mph range with highs in the upper 20s to low 30s under mostly sunny skies, with lows in the teens.

The weekend is a bit uncertain. Snow is still possible Saturday night into Sunday (with Saturday looking partly to mostly cloudy but dry with highs in the low to mid 30s), but that will depend on which piece of energy (the southern or the northern piece) makes it east/ahead of the other first. If the northern piece wins the race, it suppresses the moisture south and out to sea, but if the southern wins, it would draw the storm up and into the region with a light to *maybe* low-moderate snowfall possible.

Behind that system, more Arctic air arrives for Sunday and Monday, woo hoo! #NOT

Highs will be in the 20s during the Sunday to Tuesday period with lows in the upper singles to teens from north to south through the greater WMass region.

Have a great day, I’ll update you later, and I hope something goes well for you today!

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
― Joseph Campbell