In this week's Weather Wednesday, we go over an upcoming snow event for southern New England, as well as the coldest air of the season so far. We also go over some of the impacts from last week's storms across the coastline.
Prefer to read? There's a written version below the video. You can also read about coastal flooding impacts from last week's storms here.
An area of low pressure will form off the coast of the Mid-Atlantic and pass well to the south of New England on Friday afternoon. This track, which hasn’t changed much over the past few days, would keep a majority of the precipitation out of New England.
CMC showing potential weather on Friday evening:
Despite this, there could be some light accumulations across southern New England, mainly south of the Mass turnpike. With a track outside the benchmark, this would be one of those times where Cape Cod is the jackpot zone for snow. It does look like the jackpot from this system will be very low.
Areas south of the pike may see 1-3 inches, so it should be a minor event. Eastern Massachusetts could see some ocean enhancement with an onshore flow. This could boost snowfall rates, especially across Cape Cod and the south shore. Still, this should be a minor snowfall, even with the ocean enhancement. Snow north of the Mass Pike will depend on the system’s exact track, but as of now, northern New England will be looking at cloudy skies with a couple flurries or snow showers.
Current probability of seeing at least 2 inches of snow by Saturday morning:
After this system, the cold comes pouring in. It’ll be cold for the rest of this week, but the cold peaks on Saturday as an expansive trough slides over the eastern United States. This will allow the arctic air mass that’s been over the central United States to come into the east.
The air mass will modify as it moves east, so it won’t be as cold as it has been in the midwest. An expansive area of high pressure will be set up over the central US, which will allow colder air to spill into New England.
Highs Saturday will struggle to make it to 20 across New England, with most of northern New England topping out in the low to mid teens. Wind chills will remain in the single digits, on either side of zero during the day.
Sub zero wind chills will likely last through Sunday morning before a slightly warmer Sunday. Heading into next week, confidence has been daily high that this cold snap will be short lived and a return to above average temperatures is likely for the second half of January, which we did write in our January monthly outlook. We said that cold snaps this month would likely be short-lived, and this one appears to end by the start of next week.
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