For Tonight: This evening looks “nice” in comparison to what Friday through Saturday is going to be like. Skies this evening will be partly cloudy with a diminishing southwesterly wind. During the after midnight hours, an Arctic cold front will push southeastward from northern New England. It is expected that this front will move through the region from northwest to southeast starting across the Berkshires and the Western part of Mass between about 1 am and 3 am and then pushing across Central Mass by 4 to 5 am Friday morning. I do think that this front will be accompanied by a few snow showers and maybe a snow squall, which will be most possible across Western Mass between midnight and 3 am and across Central Mass between 3 am and 5 am Friday morning. Any snow accumulations from any snow showers may amount up to one inch of fluffy light snow. Once that front moves through, northwest winds will gust up to 40 mph and the temperatures will fall from the 20s into the teens. This looks to occur across Western Mass after 3 am Friday morning and across Central Mass after 5 am Friday morning. This means that by the time the sun rises on Friday morning, temperatures will be falling pretty quickly through the teens and towards the single numbers and the winds will be quite gusty. Dangerously Cold Weather Is Still Expected Friday Through Saturday: Friday: Even though skies throughout Friday will feature plenty of sunshine, it’ll be quite ineffective as the combination of frigid temperatures and strong winds will make for some dangerous wind chill values throughout the day Friday. Temperatures during the day on Friday will fall from between 5 and 10 Degrees during the morning to between Zero and 5 Degrees during the afternoon. It will be quite windy throughout the day on Friday with Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 to 50 mph. This will lead to wind chill temperatures of 10 to 20 below zero during the morning and around 20 below zero during the afternoon. Unfortunately, the worst of the wind chill temperatures are expected Friday night. So, even though Friday looks bitterly cold, Friday night will be even worse. Friday Night: The core of the Arctic air mass will sink right over our area during Friday night. This will lead to temperatures to bottom out at between 10 and 15 below zero across the entire area. To make things even worse will be the continuation of the very gusty northwest winds, which are expected to continue through Friday night. I expect Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 to 55 mph throughout the night. This will lead to some truly dangerous wind chill values during Friday night. I expect that we will see wind chill temperatures of around 30 below zero during the evening and wind chill temperatures of around 40 below zero after midnight Friday night. Wind chill temperatures in the 30 to 40 below zero range is truly dangerous as frostbite will occur in about 10 minutes for those exposed to these types of temperatures. This means that if you have to be outdoors for any length of time from Friday afternoon through Friday night and Saturday morning, I strongly urge you to bundle up and make sure your ears and hands are covered up as these are the more susceptible parts of the body in terms of frostbite danger. Also, those of you with livestock or animals that reside outdoors, I strongly urge you to make contingency plans to make sure they’re not exposed to this type of brutal cold during Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. Finally, make sure to only let your indoor pets outdoors for a short time (very quick potty breaks) as their paw pads are going to be extremely vulnerable to frostbite throughout Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. Turning To Saturday: Fortunately, this Arctic air mass will move out as fast as it moved in. That said, Saturday still looks bitterly cold, especially during the morning. The bright sunshine will once again be quite inefficient in trying to warm things up. Temperatures on Saturday morning will be in the 5 to 15 below zero range with temperatures rising above zero across most areas by midday or so. Afternoon high temperatures on Saturday look to be around 15 Degrees or so. It’ll still be windy on Saturday with West to Northwest winds of 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 to 40 mph. This will lead to wind chill temperatures of minus 30 to minus 35 during the morning and wind chill temperatures “warming up” to around zero during the afternoon. Finally - Those of you with plans to head north to ski or go ice climbing on either Friday or Saturday, I strongly urge you to reconsider as mountain weather conditions will be extraordinarily dangerous with record breaking cold temperatures and even record breaking wind chill temperatures expected. Current indications are showing the potential conditions across the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine: Friday: Temperatures falling from minus 30 in the morning to minus 40 during the afternoon. Winds West to Northwest 75 to 100 mph with gusts to 110 mph. Wind chill temperatures falling to 90 to 100 below zero by afternoon. Friday Night: Low temperatures of 40 to 50 below zero (All time record low temperature for Mount Washington is minus 47 and that could be broken Friday night!). Winds Northwest 75 to 100 mph with gusts to 110 mph. Wind chill temperatures of 100 to 110 below zero (All time record low wind chill temperature for Mount Washington is 97 below zero and again, that could be broken). Saturday: Temperatures “warm up” from minus 40 in the morning to minus 10 by late in the day. Winds Northwest 75 to 100 mph with gusts to 110 mph in the morning and West at 50 to 75 mph with gusts to 90 mph during the afternoon. Wind chill temperatures of 100 below zero are expected in the morning and 50 below zero during the afternoon. Also, those of you planning on skiing Mount Wachusett on Friday or Saturday should probably reconsider as mountaintop wind chill temperatures will be as follows: Around minus 30 during Friday morning, minus 30 to minus 40 during Friday afternoon, around minus 40 to minus 50 on Friday night and Saturday morning and around minus 10 during Saturday afternoon. Sunday Through Wednesday: Fortunately the Arctic air mass will be very short-lived as temperatures will warm up markedly by Sunday and Monday. Sunday looks cloudy with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees. Monday looks cloudy with high temperatures near 45 Degrees. Tuesday is expected to be cloudy and there may be some late day scattered rain showers as a frontal system pushes through. High temperatures will be near 45 Degrees. Wednesday looks partly sunny with high temperatures near 50 Degrees.
A Little Bit Of Light Snow Late Tonight Into Early Wednesday Morning: An area of low pressure is expected to track well south of New England tonight. While it is expected that a majority of the snow with this storm will remain well to our south, it’s possible that there could be some light snow between about 3-4 am and about 7 am Wednesday morning. The area that looks to have the highest chance for some light snow looks to be near and especially south of the Mass Pike. Any snow accumulations near and south of the Mass Pike looks to be less than one half of an inch. Low temperatures will be between 15 and 20 Degrees. Winds will be North at 5 to 10 mph. For Late Wednesday Morning Through Wednesday Afternoon: Once that low pressure system moves to the east, skies will become sunny by late morning with lots of sunshine expected throughout the afternoon. High temperatures Wednesday will be near 30 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Thursday: A sunny to partly sunny day is expected on Thursday with high temperatures near 35 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Dangerously Cold Weather Is Expected Friday Through Saturday: A shot of Arctic air is expected to invade the area during the day on Friday and remain in place through Friday night and Saturday. This is likely to be the coldest weather we’ve seen since about Valentine’s Day of 2016. The Arctic cold front that’s expected to bring these cold temperatures will push through the region during Friday morning and this means the “warmest” temperatures of the day will likely occur around or just after sunrise Friday morning. In addition, it’s possible that this front could bring with some isolated snow shower activity during Friday morning as it moves through. Once that front moves through, expect temperatures to fall from morning readings of around 25 Degrees to around 10 Degrees during the afternoon. Wind chill temperatures by Friday afternoon will fall to around minus 10. The core of the Arctic air mass will push into the region during Friday night and remain in place through the day on Saturday. This means that below zero temperatures are expected across the entire area during Friday night with temperatures that struggle to make to around 10 Degrees or so on Saturday. Even more concerning though will be the wind chill temperatures that are likely to be around 30 below zero on Friday night and Saturday morning and only around minus 10 during Saturday afternoon. The wind chill temperatures Friday night and Saturday are going to be in the dangerously cold category with frostbite expected within 5-10 minutes. So, if you have to be outdoors for any length of time from Friday afternoon through Friday night and Saturday, I urge you to bundle up and make sure your ears and hands are covered up as these are the more susceptible parts of the body in terms of frostbite danger. Also, those of you with livestock or animals that reside outdoors, I strongly urge you to make contingency plans to make sure they’re not exposed to this type of brutal cold. Finally, make sure to only let your indoor pets outdoors for a short time (very quick potty breaks) as their paw pads are going to be extremely vulnerable to frostbite. Now, to break it down a little more for Friday night and Saturday: Friday night looks clear and very cold with dangerously cold wind chill temperatures. Low temperatures will be between 10 and 15 below zero. Wind chill temperatures on Friday night will be in the minus 30 range. A very cold day is expected on Saturday with a continuation of the dangerously cold wind chill temperatures. High temperatures Saturday will struggle to make it to 10 Degrees. Wind chill temperatures on Saturday will be around minus 30 during the morning and around minus 10 during the afternoon. Finally, One Last Note: Those of you with plans to head north to ski or go ice climbing on either Friday or Saturday, I strongly urge you to reconsider as mountain weather conditions will be extremely dangerous with temperatures of around minus 20 on Friday, minus 40 to minus 45 on Friday night and minus 15 on Saturday. Wind chill temperatures in the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine will be around minus 65 on Friday, minus 100 on Friday night and minus 55 to minus 60 on Saturday. Also, those of you planning on skiing Mount Wachusett on Friday and especially on Saturday should probably reconsider as mountaintop wind chill temperatures will be as follows: Around minus 20 by Friday afternoon, around minus 40 on Friday night and Saturday morning and around minus 20 during Saturday afternoon. Sunday & Monday: Fortunately the Arctic air mass will be very short-lived as temperatures will warm up markedly by Sunday and Monday. Sunday looks cloudy and there may be a few rain showers around during the afternoon. High temperatures will be between 35 and 40 Degrees. Monday looks partly sunny with high temperatures near 40 Degrees.
