*CHRISTMAS MORNING TRAVEL IMPACTED BY FREEZING RAIN AND SLIPPERY TRAVEL* WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN HOISTED REGION-WIDE AND EXTENDED UNTIL 1PM FOR WMASS AND CMASS INTO SOUTHWEST VT, UNTIL 7PM FOR WINDHAM COUNTY VT (WHICH MAY HOVER AT OR BELOW FREEZING ALL DAY) AND UNTIL 7AM ON SUNDAY FOR SOUTHWEST NH… 5:20pm Friday…

Good evening everybody, I hope you are all staying healthy, and if you are celebrating I wish you an enjoyable Christmas Eve with family and/or friends.

Clearly, the clouds never broke and correspondingly the temps never came up above 30º across the region.

I meant to post something around mid-day about how this was looking to play out as an update, but I’ve been running around like a mad man, including a spell of baking cookies (first time from scratch and they came out good! Of course they had nuts in them #Sorry #CornballAlert)

We’ll have a calm, dry night ahead with a festive blanket of snow for many of us. Anywhere from a dusting up to 3″ of snow fell across the greater WMass region, with the valley floor actually reporting over an inch, a true Christmas miracle.

Lows tonight will sit down into the low to mid 20s, but should start to rise after midnight as milder air starts to work toward the region with our warm front and a weak wave along it.

Tomorrow is tricky as far as who sees freezing rain, for how long, when does it change to plain rain, when do road conditions improve, etc.

Highs should reach above freezing in spots after a warm front passes through, but historically it’s tough to scour cold air out of the valley.

The bottom line is that freezing rain is expected for EVERYBODY before dawn, starting sometime between 4-6am in WMass and then spreading east.

Some areas like the southern Housatonic River Valley in the southern half of the Berkshires down into northern Litchfield County, the lower to mid-Hudson River Valley in eastern NY, and the southern CT River Valley in north-central CT could be near the freezing mark by 7am or 8am, MAYBE as far north as Springfield, MA.

It is those valley locations that stand the best chance of icing only lasting until about 10am, give or take, with plain rain developing thereafter and improvements in main road travel given and assuming road treatments from municipalities.

As for the rest of us in WMass north of Springfield and east out into CMass, icing may linger until late morning to early afternoon, where up to two-tenths or even a quarter inch of radial ice accretion is possible. This includes the Walloomsac River Valley in southwest VT near Bennington.

We will have to see if cold air remains entrenched at the lower levels, which could prolong icing a bit longer in these areas. Hopefully these areas will see travel improvement on roads by early afternoon, that’s the expectation for now.

The biggest problem area looks to be Windham County VT east into Cheshire County NH where icing could last ALL DAY, and up to a third of an inch of ice could fall, resulting in treacherous travel in most place up that way.

I will do my best to update you early in the morning and tomorrow.

Have a great evening…
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7:05AM-FRI: SNOW TO CAUSE LOWERED VISIBILITY ON THE PIKE WESTBOUND INTO THE BERKSHIRES AND TACONICS EARLY THIS MORNING… LIGHT ACCUMULATING SNOW BAND SLOWLY SINKS SOUTH AND ENDS BY 10AM… WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN HOISTED FOR CHRISTMAS DAY FOR FREEZING RAIN WHICH WILL CAUSE SLIPPERY MORNING TRAVEL FOR SOME… ICING MAY LINGER INTO EARLY AFTERNOON FOR FOLKS AT ELEVATION ALONG AND NORTH OF RT. 2 IN MA, VT AND NH… BLUSTERY SUNDAY THEN DRIER UNTIL MID WEEK OR SO…

Good morning everybody, well after our pretty-up-the-place snow this morning, it looks like those who celebrate are going to get what they’ve always wanted: an ice Christmas!

But before we jump all the sordid holiday weather details, I’ve got a note from our local and delicious sponsor, #TandemBagelCo, with a new location in West Springfield, MA.

A NOTE FROM OUR SPONSOR:
DHTWN Is Sponsored by Members, Patrons & Tandem Bagel Company: No matter the weather, Tandem Bagel is always there for you at several valley locations to make your mornings brighter! With bagels baked fresh daily, house-whipped cream cheese, coffee, and tons of lunch options, Tandem is the perfect quick stop for lunch, breakfast, or a coffee and bagel to go. Find them in Easthampton, Northampton, Hadley, Florence (and now West Springfield!), or use their super-streamlined online ordering tool by visiting their website: https://www.tandembagelco.com

SNOW THIS MORNING
Good morning everybody, bands of light to at times moderate snow moved in after midnight, and have laid down coatings to an inch or two across our region overnight.

Now the snow band is sinking south and will be focused on southwest MA into the central and southern Berkshires, northwest CT, and southern Hampshire down into Hampden Counties.

A heavier band of snow is riding east-southeast along the MassPike from of Westfield westward and could cause some slick travel briefly there, along with lowered visibility through about 8am.

Most of us end up with a dusting to 2″ of snow, but some areas out in the Taconics and Berkshires could see over 2″, up to 3″ perhaps.

Everything winds down as our little Clipper wave waves bye bye as it heads out to sea, and leaves us with a partly sunny day by the afternoon with highs in the low to mid 30s, a few degrees colder than anticipated as of yesterday.

For tonight / Christmas Eve, no travel problems are expected through midnight. Clouds will thicken back up and lows will drop into the low to mid 20s, so it will be plenty cold for frozen precipitation to fall on Christmas morning with out next wave.

CHRISTMAS TRAVEL TO BE IMPACTED
Unfortunately, this is bad timing, and morning travel plans will likely be impacted for many of us.

While it’s possible that a few places in the valley floor from Springfield southward into CT may be just mild enough for plain rain in the morning, I do not like the look of this setup.

Temps will be plenty cold, and *will have been* plenty cold for days, unlike last week’s system.

If you’re prone to weather jadedness and you think all weather people are hypists because they’re desperate for attention, first of all I’m not sure why you’re here, but second of all, don’t let last week’s experience lull you into thinking you’re all set if you are traveling early tomorrow morning.

Temps should be well down into the 20s in the pre-dawn hours before a warm front spreads precipitation into the region as moist air rides up and over cold air in place at the surface already.

While some snow or sleet may be falling north of the Rt. 2 corridor at the start after midnight and before dawn, I think this will be mainly a freezing rain event, which is why Winter Weather Advisories are up.

Now, precip should be mostly light with some moderate bursts, but that’s the kind of precip intensity that produces the smoothest ice accretions, which causes icy surfaces.

This icing should be ongoing by the time dawn visits us tomorrow morning, and will last through the morning for many of us, perhaps changing to plain rain by mid to late morning in the valley from Northampton south and down into northern CT.

But if you are traveling in the Berkshires (excluding the southern Housatonic Valley near Great Barrington, which *should* warm up enough to be a plain cold rain by afternoon), or the western hilltowns, or the southern Greens or Worcester highlands on north, icing may linger past the noon hour into early afternoon.

I can’t know which part of which town will be icing at a certain time vs. plain raining, but suffice it to say, give yourself extra time for travel, if you have plans tomorrow.

Highs will eventually reach the mid to upper 30s, but may take longer for some of us to get there, and even the valley floor may struggle to get much above freezing, as cold air is hard to scour out.

Lows Christmas night with continued scattered showers will drop into the low 30s, and some snow may mix in.

Sunday looks blustery and partly sunny with highs either side of 40º.

Next week looks partly sunny into mid week with highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s, with some inclement weather possible by late Tuesday night into mid week.

More on that as we get closer, for now I am focused on Christmad Day’s expected weather, and I will do my best to keep you updated tomorrow with a morning report, and a mid-day report at least.

Have a great day, folks!