A Major Winter Storm Will Dump 10 To 18 Inches Of Snow Accumulation Across Western & Central Mass From Sunday Through Monday (Issued: Friday Afternoon 1/23/2026)

For Tonight & Saturday: Clear to partly cloudy skies are expected tonight & it’s going to be very cold. Low temperatures will be between 5 below zero and 10 below zero. Winds will be West to Northwest at 15 to 25 mph. Wind chill temperatures will be between 20 and 30 below zero.

Saturday will be sunny and very cold with high temperatures around 10 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 10 to 20 mph. Wind chill temperatures will be between 15 and 30 below zero in the morning and between 5 and 10 below zero in the afternoon.

Saturday night looks partly cloudy with low temperatures between 5 below zero and 10 below zero. Winds will be Northwest at 6 to 12 mph.

A Major Winter Storm Is Expected From Sunday Through Monday: A major winter storm is expected to impact all of Western and Central Mass during Sunday, Sunday night and Monday, although the worst part of this storm looks to occur from about mid-afternoon Sunday until about midnight Sunday night.

All of the ingredients continue to be there to support a major snowstorm across the entire area. This includes:

- A low pressure system that will track near or just east of Nantucket by Sunday night into Monday.

- An abundant amount of moisture, energy and forcing pushing over a very cold air mass into Southern New England.

- An Arctic air mass will produce a very light, fluffy and powdery snow that will have no problems accumulating quickly.

Here Are The Details On How This Storm Will Impact Western & Central Mass: There continues to be more than enough evidence in the data to support a major snowstorm for all of Western & Central Mass from Sunday through Monday. That being said, I’m nervous about going crazy with snow total forecasts as I do have questions as to the exact water content of the snow & exactly how long it’ll snow really hard late Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening. Should the snow have a little more water content with a slightly less snow to water ratio or should the heavy snow get shut off earlier than forecast, then we’d end up with lower snow totals. Still though, even if these two things do occur, we’d still have no problems receiving at least a foot of snow accumulation across all of Western and Central Mass.

Snow is expected to overspread all of Western and Central Mass during the mid and late morning hours of Sunday. The snow is then expected to continue through all of Sunday afternoon, all of Sunday night and all day Monday.

When Will The Worst Part Of This Storm Be: The worst part of this storm where there will be heavy to very heavy snow producing 1 to 3 inch per hour snowfall rates is expected from about mid-afternoon Sunday through late Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening. This period of heavy to very heavy snow should come to an end around midnight Sunday evening. Travel from mid-afternoon Sunday through late Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening is expected to be extremely difficult due to rapid accumulation of snow on roads, very low visibility and extremely hazardous travel conditions.

The snow is then expected to continue through all day Monday and not come to an end until early Monday evening.

Our latest snowfall forecast map for this storm is attached to this post. Additional changes to the amount of snow that I’m forecasting, including possible additional increases in the amount of forecast snow, is possible over the next day or so.

My recommendation to you is that you need to be planning for a lot of snow with accumulations of over a foot likely for Sunday, Sunday night and Monday. This winter storm will definitely impact any plans that you have on Sunday, Sunday night and Monday.

Additionally, this is going to be a very cold storm. Temperatures on Sunday will only be around 15 Degrees. Temperatures on Sunday night will be between 5 and 10 Degrees and temperatures on Monday will rise to only about 20 Degrees.

Finally, it appears that the winds shouldn’t be that strong with this storm & because of this, blizzard conditions ARE NOT expected. In fact, any blowing and drifting snow should be fairly minimal.

Winds on Sunday will be Northeast at 5 to 10 mph. Winds on Sunday night will be Northeast at 10 to 20 mph. Winds on Monday will be North at 10 to 20 mph.

It goes without saying that I continue to keep extremely close tabs on the progress of this winter storm. So, keep checking back for the latest updates!!