1150pm
New England continues to be the pins in Mother Nature’s bowling alley. As the region continues to slowly recover from the lastest 1-2 punch, another disturbance is taking aim on us. Though it does not look like a major storm, there is the potential for some plowable snow to fall again on Saturday. I expect a developing and slowly organizing low pressure area to move from the Mid Atlantic Coast to just southeast of Cape Cod during Saturday & Saturday evening, then away from New England at night. This time, the air ahead of the storm will be a little less cold than it has been in many of our setups. This probably means that some mix/rain will occur especially early in the storm from the Boston area to Cape Cod, with the Cape having the best chance of straight rain. Snow should fall to the north and west of Boston though it could briefly mix with rain, freezing rain, or sleet there. As the storm goes on, colder air will work in from the north and northwest, changing it to snow from northwest to southeast. And a lingering trough behind the departing low may keep the snow going a little longer into Saturday night over portions of central, east central, and northeastern MA and nearby southern NH. Snowfall amounts should run from around 1 inch over Cape Cod (occurring late in the storm), 1-3 inches over the remainder of southeastern and coastal MA & much of RI, 3-5 inches over the balance of eastern and central MA & southern NH. Isolated 6 to 7 inch amounts are possible in some areas of central to northeastern MA and southern NH, depending on the coverage and intensity of snow behind the departing storm at night.
Superbowl Sunday is expected to be tranquil and not too cold, as there is no batch of Arctic air ready to pounce this time. Some low level moisture lingering may mean that clouds may be stubborn to depart.
Looking into next week, there are storm threats Monday into Tuesday, & again around Thursday. At this time, I’m not going to get into details about these threats, other than to say that I believe anything that falls Monday may include mixed precipitation, anything that falls Tuesday would probably be snow, and odds favor snow with the system around Thursday. Some of the longer range guidance show this system having the potential to be a rapidly-intensifying one, but it’s so far away that there is no way to tell the degree of impact it will have in this area.
A quick forecast for the Boston area…
OVERNIGHT: Clear. Low ranging from near 0 in deeper valleys to around 15 in the urban centers. Wind light variable.
FRIDAY: Sunshine, but high clouds showing up in the southwestern sky by late in the afternoon. High 30-35. Wind west 5-15 mph.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Increasing clouds. Low 20-25. Wind west 5-10 mph.
SATURDAY: Cloudy in the morning. Light rain/mix coast, mix/snow inland afternoon. High 33-38. Wind west up to 10 mph early, light variable midday, east up to 10 mph by late in the day.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mix to snow coast with 1 to 3 inches of snow expected. Snow inland with 3 to 5 inches of snow expected and a few locally heavier amounts possible. Low 20-25. Wind northeast to north increasing to 10-20 mph.
SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy. High 32-37. Wind northwest 5-15 mph.
MONDAY: PM rain showers. Low 28. High 40.
TUESDAY: Snow showers. Low 22. High 30.
WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 10. High 25.
THURSDAY: Chance of snow. Low 15. High 25.