7:29AM
DAYS 1-5 (FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 4)
High pressure slips off to the east of New England today and a cold front approaches from the north. It will still be quite a nice day to end the month of February. Then it’s time for the proverbial March Lion as we continue to watch the evolution of a blocking pattern and a major storm system. The adjustment today is for a slightly more northward journey of the developing low pressure system which will intensify fairly rapidly and do a loop just south of New England. The main concern continues to be a strong onshore wind flow and coastal flooding. Will get far more detailed on tomorrow’s blog than today, still keeping it on a broadly described scale for this update. The time frame is generally the same although a further south evolution of the storm would have meant a quicker exit of the precipitation portion, so delaying that a bit with a farther north position likely being realized. Still not overly worried about snow as it will be a fairly mild atmosphere, but leaving the opportunity for some mix/change to snow over interior higher elevations before the system pulls out as it will be pulling colder air into itself. I don’t think we’ll see quite the right set-up for a dynamic cooling event to create snow over much of the region. This may be confined to the hills/mountains of western and southwestern New England, outside of my general WHW forecast area. Still looking for a windy/chilly weekend which may start with rain/mix/snow if the low’s loop is broad enough, otherwise it turns out mostly dry during the weekend.
TODAY: Partly sunny. Highs 47-54 South Coast, 55-61 elsewhere. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Lows 35-41. Wind SW 5-10 MPH shifting to W.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of a few rain or mixed rain/snow showers during the day. Rain arriving southwest to northeast at night. Highs 43-50 then slightly. Wind light W shifting to N, then NE to E at night increasing to 15-25 MPH.
FRIDAY: Stormy with rain, probably heavy at times. Rain may mix with or turn to snow interior higher elevations at night. Strong east wind and coastal flooding likely. Temperatures steady 38-45.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy wit a chance of rain/mix/snow early, then variably cloudy with a passing rain/snow shower possible. Temperatures generally steady upper 30s to lower 40s. Windy.
SUNDAY: Partly sunny and windy. Lows from the lower to middle 30s. Highs from the upper 30s to middle 40s.
DAYS 6-10 (MARCH 5-9)
The blocking weather pattern will be in control. Dry March 5 and still breezy/cool. The next window of opportunity for storminess is from later March 6 to early March 9. This system may have more cold air to work with therefore presents a better chance of mix/snow over a larger portion of the region.
DAYS 11-15 (MARCH 10-14)
The same pattern remains in place. Yet another storm threat favoring the middle of the period.