Mix Of Rain & Snow This Afternoon With Snow At Times Tonight

This Afternoon: The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is an extremely difficult one, especially when it comes to figuring out which areas receive mostly all rain and which areas receive accumulating snow. So, let’s take a look -

An area of low pressure currently located over the Cape will lift northward towards Maine this afternoon. Precipitation is currently falling across much of Western and Central Mass with mostly rain or a rain-wet snow mix occurring at lower elevations where temperatures are in the upper 30s. Across the higher elevations of the upper Pioneer Valley, the Berkshires and the higher elevations of northern Worcester County, temperatures are in the 32 to 34 Degree range and mostly all snow is currently occurring.

I think that we will see this trend continue this afternoon with mostly all rain mixed at times with snow across much of the lower Pioneer Valley and across areas along and south of the Mass Pike. Across the upper Pioneer Valley and areas in Worcester County from Worcester and points north, more snow than rain is expected this afternoon, especially for areas that are at higher elevation where up to one inch or so of slushy snow accumulation can be expected.

It is also expected to become increasingly more windy this afternoon with north to northwest winds gusting up to 35 mph at times.

Tonight: Very tough weather forecast for tonight from the perspective of how much snow accumulates across Western and Central Mass. A strong piece of energy is expected to move across Southern New England tonight with mostly all snow occurring across Western and Central Mass after the sun sets this evening. The intensity of the snow is expected to be light and will probably consist of intermittent or periods of light snow throughout the night tonight.

There is expected to be a large range in snow accumulations tonight with the valley floor of the Pioneer Valley and the Blackstone Valley only seeing a coating of snow. Meanwhile the Hilltowns of Western Mass and the Worcester Hills likely will see upwards of 1 to 3 inches of so of snow accumulation tonight. The highest snow amounts tonight will be found across the Berkshires where upwards of at least 3 to 6 inches of snow accumulation is expected tonight.

It will be windy tonight with northwest wind gusts of up to 40 to 45 mph expected.

Saturday: Any leftover light snow will end early in the morning. It will be quite windy on Saturday with west to northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 to 50 mph. Skies will eventually become partly sunny by Saturday afternoon with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees.

Rain For Thursday Night Into Friday Morning; Windy On Friday Night & Saturday

For The Rest Of Today: Plenty of sunshine is expected for the rest of today thanks to a ridge of high pressure that will be centered over southern New England. High temperatures this afternoon will be between 50 and 55 Degrees.

Tonight: That ridge of high pressure will continue to control our weather tonight with clear to partly cloudy skies expected. Low temperatures tonight will be between 28 and 32 Degrees.

Thursday: Thursday is expected to start out with some filtered sunshine through high and mid-level clouds. Skies will become cloudy by Thursday afternoon with rain not developing until early Thursday evening. This means that a majority of Thursday will be dry. High temperatures Thursday will be in the upper 40s.

Thursday Night Through Friday Morning: An area of low pressure will move due northward into New England from the Mid-Atlantic states during Thursday night. The track of this low pressure system is such that rain will overspread a large part of Western and Central Mass between 5 pm and 8 pm Thursday and then continue throughout Thursday night and a good part of Friday morning.

The exception to this may be across the Berkshires and the northern Worcester Hills where the precipitation may start out as some snow or a snow-rain mix during Thursday evening before changing to all rain after midnight Thursday night. A slushy inch or so of snow accumulation is possible across the higher elevations of the northern Worcester Hills and across the Berkshires on Thursday evening.

Friday Afternoon & Friday Night: Steady rain will come to an end by Friday afternoon with some scattered showers expected during Friday afternoon. High temperatures Friday afternoon will be between 45 and 50 Degrees. In addition, it will become windy during Friday afternoon with west to northwest winds gusting to 30 mph.

Friday night will feature varying amounts of clouds and some scattered snow showers are possible. Low temperatures Friday night will be in the low 30s. It will also be windy on Friday night with west to northwest winds gusting to 35 to 40 mph.

Saturday will be a windy day with west to northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 to 45 mph. In addition, skies will be partly sunny on Saturday with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees.

Sunday: A sunny to partly sunny day is expected on Sunday with high temperatures near 55 Degrees.

Next Week’s Weather: The weather for next week looks quite “interesting” as colder air will be working southward into Western and Central Mass while at the same time areas of low pressure will moving along a stationary frontal boundary that will be located to our south.

What this means is that we are going to have to really watch and see how close these low pressure systems get to our area and how much cold air may be available when they move through. The weather forecast guidance are in very poor agreement with the track of next week’s low pressure system with some of the guidance keeping our area dry. Other weather forecast guidance, however, forecasts a close enough pass to bring Western and Central Mass snow or a snow-rain mix between Monday night and Wednesday morning. At this point, it is way too soon to determine what impacts, if any, the area of low pressure will have on our weather. Be aware though that there is the possibility for some snow across our area starting on Monday night and continuing through at least Tuesday and possibly lasting into part of Wednesday morning.

Dry Weather Today Through Wednesday; Rain For Thursday & Thursday Night

For The Rest Of Today: Sunny to partly sunny skies are expected for the rest of today with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees.

Tonight: Skies will start out partly cloudy this evening, but will become cloudy after midnight tonight. Low temperatures tonight will be near 20 Degrees.

Tuesday: Overall, Tuesday looks to feature a mixture of sunshine and clouds with high temperatures between 44 and 48 Degrees.

Tuesday Night Through Wednesday: The weather pattern is expected to begin to shift into a more active pattern as we head into late this week. First though, Tuesday night is expected to be clear to partly cloudy with low temperatures between 20 and 25 Degrees.

Wednesday looks to be a sunny to partly sunny day with high temperatures between 48 and 52 Degrees.

Thursday & Thursday Night: As I just mentioned, the weather pattern is expected to become more active late this week as a low pressure system moves from the Great Lakes into New England. At the same time this is happening, an area of low pressure may move northeastward from the southeastern coast of the United States which tries to merge with the low pressure system from the Great Lakes.

This all means that rain is expected for much of Thursday and Thursday night across Western and Central Mass with temperatures in the low to mid 40s.