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For Tonight & Friday: Bitterly cold temperatures are expected from tonight through Friday & Friday night across the entire area as a blast of Arctic air invades.


Clear skies are expected tonight with low temperatures between Zero and 5 below zero. Winds will be West to Northwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Wind chill temperatures will be around 20 below zero.


Friday is expected to be sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures between 5 and 10 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Wind chill temperatures will be around 20 below zero in the morning and around 10 below zero in the afternoon.


Clear skies are expected on Friday night with low temperatures between Zero and 5 below zero. Winds will be Northwest at 10 to 20 mph. Wind chill temperatures will be around 20 below zero.


Saturday: Another cold day is expected on Saturday under partly sunny skies. High temperatures will be around 15 Degrees.


Sunday’s Storm Looks To Be A Miss For Western Mass & To Bring A Very Glancing Blow Across Central Mass: I continue to closely monitor the expected development of a low pressure system that’ll move from offshore of the North Carolina coast on Saturday to well south and east of Nantucket on Sunday. The track of this storm system looks to be far enough offshore to spare all of Western and Central Mass a significant winter storm on Sunday. It seems instead that this storm system may be a complete miss for Western Mass, but may be a glancing blow for Central Mass leading to some light snow on Sunday afternoon & Sunday evening.


While not likely at this time, I will be keeping an eye on the very slight possibility for this storm system to track much closer to our area than what is being forecast right now. Should this occur, (again, I think this seems highly unlikely right now) it would mean snow would occur across all of Western and Central Mass leading to several inches of wind-blown snow. Again, I want to strongly emphasize that I’m not expecting this to occur, but it’s something that I wanted to mention, just in case.


Finally, be very wary when scrolling social media. There continues to be some in the weather community that are still trying to needlessly hype this storm & wind everyone up into a frenzy. Ignore those posts!! Why? Because oftentimes these posts only cherry pick the scariest weather model just for the views, clicks & shares. I can tell you that a lot of time goes into me making a weather forecast that gives you a calm & measured analysis that actually has some integrity. I will always value my integrity over trying to make money with clickbait posts.


Anyways, Here Is My Forecast For Sunday & Sunday Night: Some light snow looks possible across Central Mass during Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening. Meanwhile, it appears that the shield of snow will probably not reach Western Mass & thus cloudy skies are expected with no snow.


As for possible snow amounts, they will range from nothing across Western Mass to 1 to 3 inches of snow accumulation across Central Mass during Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.


High temperatures Sunday will be near 20 Degrees. Low temperatures Sunday night will be between 5 and 10 Degrees. Winds will be North to Northeast at 15 to 20 mph throughout Sunday and Sunday night.


It goes without saying that I continue to keep very close tabs on this storm & will have more updates for you over the next couple of days.

 
 
 

For Tonight & Thursday: Varying amounts of cloud cover can be expected throughout tonight. Low temperatures will be around 5 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 6 to 12 mph.


Thursday looks to feature a mixture of sunshine and clouds. High temperatures will be between 15 and 20 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 10 to 20 mph.


Thursday Night & Friday: Yet another shot of Arctic air will push into the area during Thursday night and Friday bringing the possibility of below zero low temperatures on both Thursday night and Friday night.


Thursday night looks clear to partly cloudy with low temperatures between Zero and 5 below zero. Winds will be West to Northwest at 10 to 20 mph. Wind chill temperatures on Thursday night will be around 20 below zero.


Friday is expected to be sunny to partly sunny and quite cold with high temperatures between 10 and 15 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 15 to 20 mph. Wind chill temperatures during Friday will be 10 to 20 below zero during the morning and around 5 below zero during the afternoon.


Friday night is expected to be clear to partly cloudy with low temperatures between Zero and 5 below zero. Winds will be West to Northwest at 10 to 20 mph. Wind chill temperatures on Friday night will be around 20 below zero.


Saturday: Cold but sunny weather is expected on Saturday with high temperatures around 15 Degrees.


Intense Coastal Storm Looks To Be Either A Glancing Blow Or A Near Miss On Sunday: First things first, I do not think a direct hit is likely from an intense coastal storm system on Sunday across Western & Central Mass (famous last words). Instead, I’m leaning towards either this being a glancing blow or a near miss (a glancing blow seems very slightly more possible than a near miss).


An area of low pressure system is expected to form off of the North Carolina coast on Saturday and Saturday night. This storm system is then expected to rapidly strengthen and become an intense storm as it heads northeastward during the day on Sunday.


The exact track of this storm system in relation to our area remains uncertain. Where this storm system tracks is critical in figuring out what sorts of impacts this storm will have on our weather here across Western and Central Mass. Even slight shifts in the track of the storm can have large changes in the overall weather on Sunday.


Looking at the latest weather forecast guidance reveals that there has been some trends towards a slightly further offshore storm track. This bolsters my confidence in that this will either be a near miss with no snow at all occurring or a glancing blow which would lead to some snow accumulation across the entire area on Sunday.


Here Are My Thoughts: I currently think that this low pressure system will pass just south and east of Nantucket during the day on Sunday. This sort of track will spare all of Western & Central Mass from widespread significant impacts in terms of snow & wind.


Instead, I think that this track may end up being just close enough to bring some snow to Central Mass with either snow showers or no snow at all across Western Mass during the day on Sunday.


As for snow amounts, should this storm bring a glancing blow to the area, it would mean snow amounts that range from nearly nothing across Western Mass to something like 1 to 3 inches or 2 to 4 inches of snow accumulation across Central Mass.


Bottom line is that while all options are still on the table from a complete miss to a direct hit, I’m leaning much more towards it being a glancing blow. That being said, we are still 4 days away from this storm affecting our weather & any small changes in the track of the storm would lead to big changes in the forecast for Sunday.


It goes without saying that I’m watching this storm extremely closely & will have more updates for you in the coming days.

 
 
 

For Tonight: Any leftover scattered snow showers will end by early this evening. Skies will then become clear by midnight with clear skies expected during the after midnight hours of tonight.


Low temperatures will be between Zero and 5 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.


Wednesday Through Friday: An area of high pressure will control the weather throughout the rest of this week. This means that it will be generally dry, but it will also be cold.


Wednesday looks to start out sunny during the morning, but will become increasingly more cloudy during the afternoon. High temperatures will be around 20 Degrees. Winds will be West at 7 to 15 mph.


Wednesday night is expected to feature varying amounts of cloud cover. Low temperatures will be around 5 Degrees. Winds will be West at around 10 mph.


Thursday looks to feature a mixture of sunshine and clouds with high temperatures near 20 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.


Thursday night looks clear to partly cloudy with low temperatures around 5 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.


Friday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures near 15 Degrees.


Saturday: Cold but sunny weather is expected on Saturday with high temperatures between 15 and 20 Degrees.


Another Storm To Closely Watch For Possible Snow On Sunday: Another weekend, another possible winter storm to keep a close eye on.


I continue to keep close tabs on the potential for a coastal storm to form off of the North Carolina coast on Saturday and then head northeastward from there. The uncertainty as to where this storm tracks in relation to our area remains very high & this is not surprising for a 5 day forecast. Because of this, there is a large amount of uncertainty as to how this storm may impact our weather in terms of snow & wind on Sunday.


What I’m actually keeping a close eye on in terms of trends in weather forecast guidance is how a upper-level trough digs and amplifies as it moves into the Eastern United States this weekend. The guidance diverges with some model members showing a closed upper-level low heading across the Ohio Valley while other guidance forecast this upper level low digging as far south as the Carolinas and parts of Georgia. Basically the further south this upper level low digs, the better chance, the coastal surface low pressure system heads out to sea & mostly misses our area.


All of the ingredients are definitely there for the coastal storm system to be quite intense as it heads northeastward from off of the North Carolina coast. The question then becomes how close will this storm system track in relation to our area & this is the part of the forecast that is a big unknown right now.


Based on the most recent data, I see three viable scenarios on how things might unfold this weekend:


The First Scenario Is for the low pressure system to track well south and east of Nantucket on Sunday. This would lead to a complete miss for all of Western and Central Mass & thus no snow at all for Sunday. Right now, I give this scenario a 40 percent chance of happening.


The Second Scenario Is for the low pressure system to track near or just south of Nantucket on Sunday. This would lead to a glancing blow for much of the region. This means that some snow would occur on Sunday across Central Mass leading to perhaps a couple to a few inches of wind-blown snow accumulation & only some scattered snow showers would occur on Sunday across Western Mass. As of right now, I think this second scenario has about a 40 percent chance of occurring.


The Third Scenario Is for the low pressure system to track near or right over the Cape on Sunday. This will lead to a major snowstorm of a foot or more of accumulation along with a lot of wind & even blizzard conditions across all of Western and Central Mass during the day on Sunday. At this time, this third scenario, I think, has about a 20 percent chance of happening.


I want to emphasize that this storm is still some 5 days away from even possibly happening. Because of this, the uncertainty in the forecast is quite large & I fully expect to see many changes in the forecast between now and Sunday. Because of this, I urge you to NOT cancel any plans that you might have for this weekend. Instead, just monitor the weather forecasts and weather updates that I’m sending out, in case there are changes in the forecast.


I also want to caution you when looking through social media. There are a bunch of really “scary” weather forecasts & a ton of hype concerning the weekend storm. Some weather agencies are just posting the worst or “scariest” weather model with no explanation at all, just for those clicks, likes and views. As I mentioned yesterday, I value my integrity any day over social media clicks and views. I will always give it to you straight and always do my very best to not scare you.


No matter whether this storm impacts us or not, I will most definitely keep you updated on the latest.



HELP OUT & SUPPORT ME HERE AT ROUTE 20 WEATHER: First, I’d like to thank everyone once again for your continued support. If it were not for you, I would not be able to do a job that I love so very much – forecasting the weather for Western and Central Mass.


I’m reaching out to you to ask if you would help us out in alleviate the costs required for producing these weather forecasts for Western and Central Mass.


I do not get paid for the weather forecasts and the weather updates that I post on the Route 20 Weather website or on this Facebook page. It’s completely a public service to help out this area of the state which is vastly under served when it comes to weather coverage.


So, any donations are extremely helpful to offset the cost of the data that I pay for to analyze the weather and also for the amount of time I put into analyzing and forecasting the weather.


To help us out with expenses, I hope you might send a donation our way (Credit Card, PayPal or Venmo).


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Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH for following me here at Route 20 Weather.

 
 
 
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