Good morning folks, Winter Weather Advisories continue region-wide for tonight into Friday mid-day for snow, sleet and freezing rain, but we also have some light freezing rain and/or drizzle developing in the southern Berkshires, western Hampden County and northwest CT as initial moisture from the incoming system meets up with temps in the upper 20s to low 30s this morning. The Housatonic River Valley may see some slick spots, so a heads up for folks out that way.

For the rest of us, and more broadly for the region, we have a very messy and hazardous setup taking shape across the greater WMass region this evening and overnight.

After this morning’s freezing rain in southwestern areas, generally scattered rain showers will develop by later morning into the mid afternoon along and south of the Pike with highs reaching the mid 30s to low 40s.

As our next shortwave pushes towards us along a warm front that will never make it north of us before this system does its work on the greater WMass region, a cold Canadian strong high pressure cell will position itself in southern Quebec and New Brunswick. This setup will drain cold surface air through Maine, New Hampshire, and down into SVT, SWNH, WMass, CMass and northern CT (though the deepest cold will set up north of the Pike in MA, VT and NH, which suggests sleet and snow with freezing rain in more southern parts of MA, down into northern CT).

Clouds will thicken, and between 5-8pm from southwest to northeast steadier rain will push into our region, and likely quickly change to freezing or sleet as colder temps continue to drain through our hills and dales.

One of my concerns is that areas like Hampshire County west into the Pittsfield area of the Berkshires, and east down the Rt. 9 corridor of CMass into Worcestrer are going to see a period of steady or even heavier sleet, which could accumulate up to an inch or two, potentially mixed with freezing rain at times.

The best chance for freezing rain ice accretions up a quarter to half an inch are in the southern Berkshires, southern CMass and either northern corner of CT where some isolated power outages are possible due to the weight of the ice.

Along the northern Berkshires, Franklin County, and northern CMass and especially in southeast VT into southwest NH a period of sleet changing to accumulating snow looks more and more likely, and I can’t rule out 2-6” of snow up that way.

This mess lasts through the night and into the Friday morning commute, tapering off by mid to late morning, so if you must travel early in the morning, especially if you live north of the MA/CT state line, you gotta give yourself a lot of extra time to deal with slow travel and/or cleaning up your paths, cars, etc. as it looks slippery tomorrow morning.

Lows will dip into the 30-35º range, and highs tomorrow will sit in the mid 30s with patchy fog, possible freezing drizzle in the mid morning, and a few scattered showers through the mid afternoon before we start to dry out.

It’ll be milder this weekend with highs in the 40s to low 50s, along with some rain Saturday night into early Sunday, and it will be milder still early to mid next week with highs well into the 50s, but a return of colder air lurks for late next week.

I will get to those details in future reports, but we must deal with the present moment in life, because that’s all there is, and I’m focused on this incoming wintry mess system for this evening.

Have a great day!

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

YOUR NUTSHELL:
–Freezing rain is developing in the southern Berkshires, southwest hilltowns, and northwest CT through mid morning, watch for slick spots
–We’re cloudy today, with scattered rain showers by late morning into afternoon, mainly south of the Pike
–Between 5-8pm steadier precipitation moves in as cold air drains in from the northeast
–This clash will produce rain at first down near Hartford and up the Pioneer Valley to about Northampton and other areas of northern CT
–However, temps will continue to drop and flip any rain to freezing rain (southern MA, northern CT), sleet (central Berkshires, Hampshire County, Rt. 9 corridor in CMass) and snow (far northern Berkshires, Franklin County, northern CMass, SVT and SWNH)
–Several inches of snow possible in northern MA up into SVT and SWNH, plows probably have to come out up that way
–A coating to 2” of sleet is possible along Hampshire County and the Rt. 9 corridor in MA generally
–Ice accretions up to half an inch possible in northwest CT, northeast CT, the southern Berkshires and western Hampden County up into southwest Hampshire County hilltowns
–This continues overnight into the Friday morning commute, which will be a mess most likely, especially as you go north of the Pike where the most wintry impacts will be, north of the Pike
–Highs today mid 30s to low 40s, lows in the 30-35º range tonight, highs Friday mid 30s
–Friday could feature freezing drizzle in the morning after precip gets out of here by mid-morning
–Friday is a cold raw day with patchy fog and a region cleaning up after another wintry mix mess
–Lows Friday night in the low 30s
–Weekend looks milder with highs in the 40s Saturday, and 40s to low 50s by Sunday with rain overnight Saturday into Sunday morning
–Milder next week into the 50s first half of the week, with colder air returning by late week, generally fair weather expected

YOUR DAILY CELESTIALS
STAR:
–OUR STAR ROSE AT: 6:18am this morning
–OUR STAR SETS AT: 5:45pm this evening
–TOTAL DAYLIGHT TIME: 11 hours and 27 minutes

MOON:
–OUR MOON SET AT: 7:04am this morning
–MOON SET DIRECTION: West
–OUR MOON RISES AT: 8:24pm this evening
–MOON RISE DIRECTION: East-Southeast
–MOON PHASE: Waning Gibbous (95.6%)