A Stormy Saturday Is Expected Across Western & Central Mass

For This Afternoon: Sunny to partly sunny skies is expected for this afternoon with high temperatures between 45 and 50 Degrees. Winds this afternoon will be west at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Clear to partly cloudy skies are expected for tonight with low temperatures between 25 and 30 Degrees. Winds tonight will be west at 5 mph. Friday: Skies will be partly sunny throughout the day on Friday. High temperatures Friday will be between 45 and 50 Degrees. Winds on Friday will be south at 5 to 10 mph. Saturday: A rapidly strengthening low pressure system is expected to track from near eastern North Carolina on Saturday morning to the Gulf of Maine by late Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening. The track of this low pressure system is going to be very important in determining whether or not parts of Western and Central Mass changes from rain to snow Saturday afternoon and if so, how much may accumulate. Some of the weather forecast guidance points to a track right across central and eastern Mass, which would lead to almost all rain with a quick burst of snow at the end of the storm Saturday evening. Other weather forecast guidance points to a forecast track that takes the storm across the Cape, which would lead to a quick change from rain to snow during Saturday afternoon across the entire area with a few inches of snow accumulation. At this point, my thinking is that rain will begin across the entire area by early Saturday morning and then continue through the morning. By early afternoon Saturday, it looks like the rain will change to snow across the northern Worcester Hills and across the Berkshires while it continues to rain heavily across the rest of Western and Central Mass. The change from rain to snow will eventually spread across the rest of Western and Central Mass by very late Saturday afternoon. Snow will then continue through all of Saturday evening across all of Western and Central Mass before ending well after midnight Saturday night. Snow amounts will range from 1 to 2 inches across the entire Pioneer Valley of Western Mass and across all of southern Worcester County, including Worcester Metro, the Mass Pike corridor and the I-84 corridor to 2 to 4 inches of snow accumulation across the Berkshires and across the northern Worcester Hills, including the entire Route 2 corridor. This is an initial early call on accumulations and these amounts may change in the next day or so as I get more data. Sunday Through Tuesday: A sunny and cold day is expected on Sunday with high temperatures near 35 Degrees. Monday looks partly sunny with high temperatures near 50 Degrees. A mixture of sunshine and clouds is expected on Tuesday with high temperatures between 50 and 55 Degrees.