For The Rest Of This Afternoon: Sunny to partly sunny skies are expected this afternoon with temperatures around 40 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 5 to 10 mph.
Areas Of Very Light Freezing Rain, Very Light Snow & Areas Of Black Ice Tonight: A piece of atmospheric energy is expected to push through the region during tonight. Any precipitation with this piece of energy will need to be watched as it could fall in the form of a bit of very light freezing rain or light snow at times tonight into early Christmas Eve morning. Another concern for late tonight and early Christmas Eve Morning is for areas of black ice as temperatures will fall to about 30-32 Degrees and this will combine with quite a bit of moisture in the air to produce these areas of black ice.
So, cloudy skies are expected throughout tonight. Some very light snow or very light freezing rain will be initially possible across the northern Worcester Hills and the upper Pioneer Valley this evening. This threat for patchy very light snow or very light freezing rain will spread across the remaining areas of Western and Central Mass after midnight tonight.
I’m not really expecting any snow or ice accumulation, but even an extremely light glaze of ice on roads, highways, parking lots and driveways can cause issues. So, use caution if you are out and about this evening across the upper Pioneer Valley and the northern Worcester Hills and use caution across the rest of the area late tonight if you are out and about as a very light glaze of ice is possible both from very light freezing rain and areas of black ice.
Low temperatures tonight will be between 30 and 35 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 5 to 10 mph.
Areas Of Black Ice Expected During Christmas Eve Morning: Areas of black ice are going to continue to be a concern during the morning due to temperatures in the low 30s and plenty of low-level moisture around. This means if you are out and about during the morning, please use extreme caution as black ice may definitely be a concern, especially on bridges, overpasses and secondary roads.
By late morning or so, temperatures should rise into the upper 30s and thus ending the black ice threat across the region.
Christmas Eve Afternoon: Cloudy skies are expected throughout the afternoon and there may be some areas of drizzle around. High temperatures will be near 40 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 5 to 10 mph.
Christmas Day: Generally cloudy skies are expected on Christmas Day with high temperatures near 45 Degrees. Winds will be South at 5 to 10 mph.
Rain Is Expected Wednesday & Wednesday Night: Another round of rain is expected for Wednesday and Wednesday night as an area of low pressure will track across Southern New England. This storm looks no where near as bad as the storm we saw on Monday, but there will be rain around throughout Wednesday and Wednesday night.
At this time, it appears that rainfall totals of between three quarters of an inch (0.75”) and one inch (1.00”) can be expected during Wednesday and Wednesday night. Given how high the rivers, streams and brooks are and how saturated the ground is, I do think another round of flood issues are possible. This means that ponding of water and localized flooding of roads, highways and poor drainage areas are likely. Also, some of the rivers and streams may rise above flood stage again and this is something that’ll need to be watched closely.
High temperatures Wednesday will be between 50 and 55 Degrees. Low temperatures Wednesday night will be between 40 and 45 Degrees.
As for winds, I don’t think that strong winds will be an issue this time around with perhaps South winds of 10 to 20 mph during Wednesday and Wednesday night.
Looking Towards The New Year – A Cold & Wintry Weather Pattern Looks To Develop: Once this storm system exits to the northeast by Thursday, it looks like the overall weather pattern will change across North America. This weather pattern will take about a week to 10 days to complete, but when it’s complete, we will be in a cold and wintry weather pattern by about the weekend of January 6-7. This cold weather pattern is then likely to hang on through at least mid-January and probably beyond that.
As for the snow lovers out there, the question as to whether we will yield any snow storms from this weather will highly depend on the tracks of storm systems and how much moisture is available. While we’ll definitely have the cold air needed for snow, we just need the storm systems to produce that snow. I explained what I thought may occur during January and February in the update I sent out on Thursday. You can read that by going to the following link - https://www.route20weather.com/post/weather-pattern-looks-to-shift-towards-a-colder-snowier-look-just-after-the-new-year-across-wester