A pair of 5s was good enough to tie the record high in Boston of 55 for the date. It was certainly a nice break from the cold weather, although, not a picture perfect day as a couple showers rolled in.
Those showers were thanks a cold front that slid through, one that’ll usher in cooler weather overnight as temps drop to 30 by daybreak. Now, back to your regularly scheduled winter.
As a wave of low pressure rides along that front, that stalls just south of us for Monday, it’ll spread snow across the south coast of New England Monday morning. Enough moisture sneaks far enough to spit out flakes as far north as the Mass Pike, but at this point, I don’t see much more than a coating to and inch from Boston to Worcester, if that. Across the South Shore, a coating to a couple inches is a better bet with a good 2-4″ across Buzzards Bay and the Cape and Islands. Behind this system, we’re quiet for Tuesday and seasonably cold.
The main event this work-week is Wednesday. As an area of low pressure moves from Texas to the Ohio Valley, it grabs Gulf of Mexico Moisture and heads northeast. Initially, the main area of low pressure looks to move from the Ohio Valley to PA and head toward New York. If that inland track continued, we’d see snow go to an icy mix, if not over to rain with an east to southeast wind developing. However, there also appears that a secondary low starts to take over south of us, and as that becomes the main storm, the colder air has more staying power and the mix/rain line stays farther south thanks to a more northeast wind. Right now a plowable snow looks likely for most locations. Where it stays all snow, there’s enough moisture for a good 6-10″ with the bulk of it falling Wednesday morning through early afternoon. The snow will start in the predawn hours, well before the Wednesday morning commute, so it’ll be a slow go on the roads with snow on the ground and snow steadily falling. In the mid to late afternoon hours, the snow lets up a bit and even mixes with some sleet/rain drops. The evening commute likely won’t be as treacherous. We’re still a few days out, so of course, a change in the track changes snow totals, and that’s what we’ll have to fine tune here over the next few days to adjust either north or south. One things for sure, there’s no fluff factor with this storm. As temps run in the lower 30s, it’s a good snowman and snowball making snow, but not easy to shovel.
Onshore winds do develop, but won’t be as strong as previous storms. Giving the fact that tides are astronomically on the higher side, there may be some minor issues, but a major impact is not expected at this time.
Next storm up after this one may be slated by next weekend. At this point, I’m favoring more toward Sunday and Sunday night vs. Saturday. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now though, it appears that Phil is on the right track this go around.
Enjoy your Sunday and eat all the buffalo chicken dip, wings, pizza you can tonight. I know I will.
On twitter – @clamberton7