Good morning folks, did you see our fleeting lunar eclipse this morning? If so, please post pics below. As for our next set of hydrometeorological adventures together, Winter Weather Advisories have been hoisted for the entire greater WMass region for this afternoon into the overnight period.

As has been advertised, the reason for that is we’ve got remnant cold air from our recent Arctic blast, and that will be enough along with a process known as evaporative cooling (i.e. when precip falls into dry air, and as that precip evaporates at first before reaching the ground, it cools the temps below) to produce wet snow, starting between 11am to 1pm today.

The higher March sun angle and temps in the low to mid 30s (a/k/a marginally cold temps) should allow for wet snow to mostly melt on road ways, or produce some slushy accumulation vs. becoming snow covered.

Snow will continue until late afternoon to early evening when milder air intruding aloft is expected to flip us to sleet and/or freezing rain, especially south of the Rt. 2 corridor. Some plain rain may mix in down in north-central parts of CT along the CT River Valley.

I expect that in SVT and SWNH and even parts of far northwest MA or far north-central MA we could see precip remain as all snow or snow/sleet mix.

I think areas south of Rt. 2 will end up with a coating to 2” (and many areas more like a coating to 1”), with ice accretion up to a tenth to two-tenths of an inch, especially in the eastern Berkshires, western hilltowns, eastern Franklin County and northern CMass.

I expect that 1-4” snow/sleet is possible along and north of the Rt. 2 corridor, especially up into SVT/SWNH by tomorrow morning.

Lows will drop to the low 30s, and black ice is possible early tomorrow morning where standing water freezes in spots, so watch your surfaces when you head out early in the morning.

Wednesday should develop into a partly to mostly sunny day with highs either side of 50º, followed by lows near freezing.

Thursday will cloud up again as another zonal-tracking storm system ejects east out of the Ohio Valley and heads for New England.

After a day with highs in the mid to upper 40s, rainfall will push east into the region at night. At the same time, we’ll have strong high pressure setting up over Maine and draining cold air at the surface southwest into our region (a/k/a “cold air damming”).

This may drop temps at night and into the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning, converting rain to freezing rain and producing icing problems for areas well north of the Pike in MA, SVT and SWNH, so I will keep you updated on that for the Friday morning commute.

Friday looks a bit cooler with highs in the low to mid 40s with rain and ice ending followed by a dry night and a milder weekend with highs in the 50s!

There may be some showers Saturday night but I am uncertain on the weekend weather at the moment, other than the mild temps, so I will have to update you.

Early to the middle of next week looks even milder with highs possibly cresting 60º, but as we head into mid-March another cold signal lurks, so the seesaw continues.

Have a great day!

YOUR NUTSHELL:
–Clouds continue to thicken, temps rise from the upper single digits and teens to the low to mid 30s
–Snow arrives between 11am and 1pm, and it will be a wet snow
–Given higher sun angle and marginal temps near or just above freezing, most roads should be more wet or slushy than snow-covered during the day
–As we get towards dinner time, temps will cool a bit, and slippery conditions will develop this evening
–Snow will also mix with or change to sleet and/or freezing rain by late afternoon to early evening from south to north (earlier south, later north)
–I expect most areas south of the Rt. 2 corridor will be sleeting or seeing freezing rain with some ice accretion before 8pm, with snow and mix north of there
–Everything winds down in the pre-dawn hours, and some plain rain is possible down near the Hartford to Bradley Airport stretch this eve
–A coating to 2” of snow/sleet is expected south of the Rt. 2 corridor with some ice accretion up to a tenth of an inch or so, with 1-4” of snow/sleet and some ice along and north of the Rt. 2 corridor
–Black ice will be possible early Wednesday morning with lows in the upper 20s to low 30s given standing water and light wind
–Patchy fog is possible, and may linger a bit
–Highs Wednesday rise to either side of 50º with partly to mostly sunny skies and lows in the low 30s
–On Thursday, we’ll cloud back up ahead of another system with high pressure to our northeast
–Rain moves in at night, but we may see a period of freezing rain in northern parts of WMass, CMass, and SVT/SWNH with cold air drainage from Maine
–Friday looks showery and cool with highs in the low 40s, followed by drying during the evening with lows near freezing
–The weekend looks very mild with high sin the 50s, but the weather is uncertain as there may be some shower activity
–Early next week may crest into the low 60s
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YOUR DAILY CELESTIALS
STAR:
–OUR STAR ROSE AT: 6:22am this morning
–OUR STAR SETS AT: 5:42pm this evening
–TOTAL DAYLIGHT TIME: 11 hours and 20 minutes

MOON:
–OUR MOON SET AT: 6:24am this morning
–MOON SET DIRECTION: West
–OUR MOON RISES AT: 6:10pm this evening
–MOON RISE DIRECTION: East
–MOON PHASE: Waning Gibbous (99.9%)

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