Latest On The Expected Snowfall For Tonight & Thursday Morning: A pretty robust cold front is expected to work its way eastward from the Great Lakes region. This front will bring with it the first widespread accumulating snowfall of the season, especially for the Worcester Hills.
Some periods of light snow may occur over the next few hours before the really steady snow begins.
That steady snow is expected to begin across Western Mass between about 8 and 9 pm this evening. Steady snow then looks to begin across Central Mass between about 9 and 10 pm or so this evening. The exception to this looks to be across southeastern Worcester County (areas east of I-395) where the precipitation will start out as rain.
Snow is then expected to continue throughout the overnight hours of tonight. It still looks like there will be a period of moderate snow across an area from the eastern hilltowns of Western Mass eastward through the Worcester Hills and areas west of I-190 and southward into the I-84 corridor and areas west of I-395 between 11 pm and 3 am tonight.
The exception to all of this looks to be across southeastern parts of Worcester County, from about Route 146 and points east where the precipitation will be mainly rain or a rain-snow mix during the overnight hours of tonight. A slow changeover to snow is possible just before sunrise, however, areas near the Rhode Island border may not change to snow at all.
The snow looks to continue for a while during Thursday morning before it tapers off to some scattered snow showers during the late morning hours. This means that travel impacts are likely for the Thursday morning commute due to falling and accumulating snow and slippery roads.
Our latest snowfall forecast map for tonight into Thursday morning is attached to this post. The highest snow amounts are expected to occur in the Worcester Hills where the precipitation will be all snow & there will be a period of moderate snow intensity for a few hours tonight. The lowest snow amounts are expected to occur across southeastern parts of Worcester County where the precipitation is likely to be rain or a rain-snow mix to start with tonight before it very slowly changes to snow early Thursday morning.
Low temperatures tonight will be near 30 Degrees, except near 35 Degrees in southeastern Worcester County. Winds tonight will be South to Southwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.
Temperatures on Thursday morning will be between 30 and 35 Degrees. Winds on Thursday morning will be Southwest at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30-35 mph.
Sharply Colder Temperatures With Scattered Snow Showers & Snow Squalls Thursday Afternoon: The actual strong cold front is expected to push through the region during Thursday afternoon bringing with it strong winds, falling temperatures and the threat for scattered snow showers and snow squalls.
Expect a mixture of sunshine and clouds throughout Thursday afternoon. In addition, there are likely to be some scattered snow showers and a few snow squalls around, especially between 12 pm and 3 pm or so. Any snow squalls will lead to very hazardous travel conditions due to low visibility, blowing snow and a quick coating of snow on roads leading to them becoming quite slick very quickly.
Snow showers then come to an end shortly after 3 pm.
It is expected to become very windy during Thursday afternoon with West winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph.
Temperatures during Thursday afternoon will fall from 30 to 35 Degrees early in the afternoon to 25 to 30 Degrees by mid to late afternoon.
Cold & Very Windy Thursday Night: A tight pressure gradient behind that cold front will lead to very windy conditions on Thursday night. It will also be cold, which combined with the winds will lead to some bitter cold wind chill temperatures.
Skies on Thursday night will be partly cloudy. Low temperatures will be near 20 Degrees. Winds will be West at 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Wind chill temperatures will be between Zero and 5 Above Zero.