6:59PM
The atmosphere made a feeble attempt to deliver a set-up for a white Christmas, with some ocean effect snow mainly south of Boston and some scattered light snow around southeastern New England as a disturbance at upper levels passed through from southwest to northeast. But that’s about it for snow chances. And with milder to warmer air arriving in time for Christmas, the chances of a white Christmas drop to nil. Maybe next year! So exactly what is coming up during the week ahead? Read on…
Monday / Tuesday … Air flow shifts slowly from northerly to easterly as high pressure tries to hold on north of New England and low pressure tries to approach from the south but weakens and washes out. Cloudiness will dominate and there may be spotty light snow Monday and scattered light rain Tuesday as the atmosphere warms slightly.
Wednesday / Thursday (Christmas Eve / Christmas Day) … Here it comes! The storm of the century! Right? Wrong. Low pressure will crank up in the Midwest during this time, and will send a warm front northward through southern New England Wednesday, preceded by some light rain, drizzle, and fog. As long as the warm front pushes right through, a stronger southerly wind flow will then develop along with areas of rain showers. We cannot even rule out breaks in the clouds and some sun between the warm front and approaching cold front. That cold front will approach later at night into the early hours of Christmas Day with showers likely and even the chance of thunderstorms, somewhat unusual for late December. During Christmas Day itself, the front will push offshore but slowly enough that moisture still still be moving up along and behind it with additional rain showers. Behind this front, the push of cooler air is fairly weak, but a gusty west wind and a cool-down and dry-out is likely by later Christmas Day and Christmas Night.
Friday / Saturday … Southwesterly flow aloft, westerly flow at the surface, high pressure passing to the south. That is a dry and milder than average set up for late week.
Sunday … Early call would be for a cold front to sweep through from the west with a colder air mass arriving. We’ll also have to watch for a potential low pressure wave from the southern branch of the jet stream moving out south of the region but it is uncertain if that will form and affect the region.
SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND FORECAST…
TONIGHT: Cloudy. Spotty snow flurries with no accumulation, but a few bands of briefly light to moderate snow showers South Shore of MA with minor additional accumulation. Lows 25-33. Wind light NE.
MONDAY: Mostly cloudy to partly sunny. Spotty snow flurries. Highs 33-40. Wind light N.
MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. Patchy drizzle and fog. Temperatures steady 33-40. Wind light NE.
TUESDAY: Cloudy. Areas of fog and drizzle. Chance of light rain. Highs 38-45. Wind light E.
WEDNESDAY – CHRISTMAS EVE: Morning – cloudy with drizzle and fog and a chance of rain. Afternoon – mostly cloudy with scattered rain showers. Evening – cloudy with scattered to numerous rain showers and a chance of thunderstorms. Night – rain showers likely and a chance of thunderstorms. Low 45. High 60.
THURSDAY – CHRISTMAS DAY: Mostly cloudy. Rain showers diminishing west to east. Low 50. High 55.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 32. High 48.
SATURDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 33. High 54.
SUNDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of rain to snow showers. Temperatures falling 40s to 30s.