Another messy storm is heading our way for the weekend.
The system that brought us a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain earlier today will pull away and high pressure builds in with clearing and colder weather tonight into Friday. If you’re heading out this evening use caution as any untreated surfaces may ice up pretty quickly. Clouds start to move back in Friday night as another storm heads our way, and this one looks quite complicated.
Low pressure will move out of the Ohio Valley and head towards New England. We’ll see snow developing ahead of the storm Saturday afternoon, continuing into the evening hours. However, warmer air will start to move in aloft, with snow changing to sleet and freezing rain by early Sunday, and eventually plain rain along the South Coast and into parts of Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A secondary area of low pressure will then develop, and pass right across southern New England, while what’s left of the original system crosses Northern New England. The question becomes, how far north does the warmer air get, both aloft and at the surface. The warmer air aloft may get as far north as central portions of Vermont and New Hampshire, resulting in snow changing to sleet and freezing rain. Before the changeover takes place, we could be looking at 2-4″ of accumulation south of the Mass Pike (less near the South Coast), with 3-6″ to the north, possibly more across southern New Hampshire if the changeover is a little slower to occur. At the surface, the cold air may remain locked in across most of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, and even interior portions of southern New England, with temperatures not getting above freezing. As a result, we could be looking at a significant ice storm, especially from the hills of northern Rhode Island and northeastern Connecticut, across central Massachusetts and into much of southern New Hampshire, away from the Seacoast. Across eastern Massachusetts, temperatures may be warm enough for just plain rain for the bulk of the storm after the initial burst of snow. as the storm pulls away, some colder air may move back in, allowing for the precipitation to possibly change back to snow before ending Sunday night, then high pressure builds in with cold and dry conditions on Monday.
Thursday night: Clearing, breezy. Low 18-25.
Friday: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds, breezy. High 26-33.
Friday night: Increasing and thickening clouds. Low 9-16.
Saturday: Cloudy with light snow developing in the afternoon. High 25-32.
Saturday night: Snow changing to sleet and freezing rain, possibly all rain near the South coast. Low 21-28, temperatures start rising after midnight.
Sunday: Sleet and freezing rain across the interior, rain inside of 495 and south and east of I-95, possibly changing back to snow late in the day, breezy. High 27-34 north of the Mass Pike, 35-42 south of the Pike.
Sunday night: Snow or rain ending before midnight, some gradual clearing late at night, breezy. Low 15-22.
Monday: Partly sunny, windy, colder. High 25-32.
Storm HQ 