FREEZING RAIN TO BE MAIN HAZARDOUS WEATHER IMPACT IN THE HIGH TERRAIN TOMORROW MORNING… WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES CONTINUE… (6:10pm Thurs)

Good evening everybody, in looking at the dew point temps across the region tonight, I am concerned about high elevation icing potential tomorrow morning, and that it may linger until noon in some places.

While air temperatures are currently in the mid to upper 20s, dew point temps are in the high single digits to mid teens – the differences, called dewpoint depressions, are substantial.

When precipitation falls into super dry air, it cools the surrounding air via a process called evaporative cooling. Air that evaporates cools the surrounding environment, and air that condenses warms the surrounding environment (via latent heat release).

This looks to happen after midnight as moister air moves into the dry air at the surface. Yes, it will be starting to get milder by the morning, and dew point temps will come up, but it might be enough to prolong some icing for hill and mountain folk of southwestern New England.

Given this, we will see a mix of snow and sleet after midnight and before sunrise, that will transition to freezing rain mixed with sleet for everybody, and then changing to rain by 8am or so in the lower elevations of the valley and northern CT.

However, some areas in the Berkshires, SVT, western Franklin/Hampshire Counties, northern Worcester and up into southwest NH should remain as ice until mid to late morning, possibly as late as noon.

In fact, some areas in western Windham County of SVT may see up two-tenths of an inch or so of ice accretion.

Once we change to plain rain in the afternoon, we should see more showery conditions. Up to a half inch of rain is expected, more to the south.

Southeasterly winds may mix down to the ground in a few spots, but will likely be kept aloft due to a cooler-surface-versus-warmer-aloft temperature inversion, which tends to shield the surface from winds aloft.

Highs will soar into the 40s and low 50s tomorrow and stay above freezing at night near 40 degrees.

Saturday sees two cold front move through, the first starts the temperature drop, the second brings gusty northwest breezes and possible snow showers to the Taconics, SVT and Berkshires Saturday afternoon and night. Northwest winds may gust 30-40mph at times.

Have a great evening, and give yourself some extra time to travel tomorrow morning as it will be slippery for some!
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WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES HAVE EXPANDED THROUGHOUT N.CT, E.NY, S.VT, SW.NH, WMASS AND CMASS FOR FRIDAY MORNING… SNOW, SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN OVERSPREAD THE REGION AFTER MIDNIGHT… A CHANGE TO RAIN IN VALLEY LOCATIONS SHOULD OCCUR BY OR AFTER SUNRISE (7AM-ISH) BUT ICING SHOULD CONTINUE IN THE HIGH TERRAIN INTO THE LATE MORNING, AFFECTING THE MORNING COMMUTE… NEW YEAR’S EVE LOOKS POTENTIALLY ICY LATE, CHANGING TO RAIN ON NEW YEAR’S DAY… (9:10am Thurs)

Good morning everybody, I apologize for the late report, I have been traveling for the holidays. We’ve got some icy weather on the way, so I will jump into the details below:

–For today, we start off with plenty of sunshine, but high clouds will build as the day wears on
–Highs today will reach the mid to upper 30s
–High pressure moves out into the Atlantic Ocean, and turns our flow more southwesterly
–Lows tonight will dip into the low to mid 20s as clouds build in overhead
–Precipitation should hold off until after midnight, in general, and when it moves in, we will see snow, sleet and freezing rain break out across the region
–Up to an inch or so of snow and sleet is possible before we first change over to freezing rain, and then plain rain on Friday morning
–There will be a strong push of milder air from the south and southwest at all levels of the atmosphere moving into the region
–This should change us to all rain in the valley floor and other low elevation areas by about 7am or so
–However, the Berkshires, western hilltowns, SVT, northwest CT, northern Cheshire County in southwest NH etc. should hold on to freezing rain and sleet for longer, causing hazardous driving conditions for the Fridya morning commute
–We all change to rain by noon, and it will rain heavy at times during the afternoon and into Friday night before quitting before midnight
–About a half inch to 1.25″ of rain should fall all told by Saturday morning, as a few showers could remain overnight, especially in the Berkshires
–Saturday starts off mild with increasing sunshine and highs in the low to mid 40s, but should drop through the day behind a passing cold front
–Lows will bottom out in the upper teens to low 20s Saturday night under clearing skies
–Sunday is going to be a Sun Day with colder temps and highs in the upper 20s to low 30s with lows in the upper teens
–New Year’s Eve could be problematic as another similar situation to tomorrow morning develops over southern New England
–Sometime between the mid afternoon and early evening, snow, sleet and freezing rain could move back into the region, before changing to rain overnight as yet another storm passes northwest of WMass
–Rain would last into New Year’s Day

More on this developing impact to New Year’s festivities as we get closer. If we’re lucky, system timing will slow down and move in after the ball drops at midnight Monday night.

Stay tuned, and have a great day!