Dangerously Cold Weather Is Expected From Friday Through Saturday Across Western & Central Mass

A Little Bit Of Light Snow Late Tonight Into Early Wednesday Morning: An area of low pressure is expected to track well south of New England tonight. While it is expected that a majority of the snow with this storm will remain well to our south, it’s possible that there could be some light snow between about 3-4 am and about 7 am Wednesday morning. The area that looks to have the highest chance for some light snow looks to be near and especially south of the Mass Pike. Any snow accumulations near and south of the Mass Pike looks to be less than one half of an inch. Low temperatures will be between 15 and 20 Degrees. Winds will be North at 5 to 10 mph. For Late Wednesday Morning Through Wednesday Afternoon: Once that low pressure system moves to the east, skies will become sunny by late morning with lots of sunshine expected throughout the afternoon. High temperatures Wednesday will be near 30 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Thursday: A sunny to partly sunny day is expected on Thursday with high temperatures near 35 Degrees. Winds will be Southwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Dangerously Cold Weather Is Expected Friday Through Saturday: A shot of Arctic air is expected to invade the area during the day on Friday and remain in place through Friday night and Saturday. This is likely to be the coldest weather we’ve seen since about Valentine’s Day of 2016. The Arctic cold front that’s expected to bring these cold temperatures will push through the region during Friday morning and this means the “warmest” temperatures of the day will likely occur around or just after sunrise Friday morning. In addition, it’s possible that this front could bring with some isolated snow shower activity during Friday morning as it moves through. Once that front moves through, expect temperatures to fall from morning readings of around 25 Degrees to around 10 Degrees during the afternoon. Wind chill temperatures by Friday afternoon will fall to around minus 10. The core of the Arctic air mass will push into the region during Friday night and remain in place through the day on Saturday. This means that below zero temperatures are expected across the entire area during Friday night with temperatures that struggle to make to around 10 Degrees or so on Saturday. Even more concerning though will be the wind chill temperatures that are likely to be around 30 below zero on Friday night and Saturday morning and only around minus 10 during Saturday afternoon. The wind chill temperatures Friday night and Saturday are going to be in the dangerously cold category with frostbite expected within 5-10 minutes. So, if you have to be outdoors for any length of time from Friday afternoon through Friday night and Saturday, I urge you to bundle up and make sure your ears and hands are covered up as these are the more susceptible parts of the body in terms of frostbite danger. Also, those of you with livestock or animals that reside outdoors, I strongly urge you to make contingency plans to make sure they’re not exposed to this type of brutal cold. Finally, make sure to only let your indoor pets outdoors for a short time (very quick potty breaks) as their paw pads are going to be extremely vulnerable to frostbite. Now, to break it down a little more for Friday night and Saturday: Friday night looks clear and very cold with dangerously cold wind chill temperatures. Low temperatures will be between 10 and 15 below zero. Wind chill temperatures on Friday night will be in the minus 30 range. A very cold day is expected on Saturday with a continuation of the dangerously cold wind chill temperatures. High temperatures Saturday will struggle to make it to 10 Degrees. Wind chill temperatures on Saturday will be around minus 30 during the morning and around minus 10 during the afternoon. Finally, One Last Note: Those of you with plans to head north to ski or go ice climbing on either Friday or Saturday, I strongly urge you to reconsider as mountain weather conditions will be extremely dangerous with temperatures of around minus 20 on Friday, minus 40 to minus 45 on Friday night and minus 15 on Saturday. Wind chill temperatures in the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine will be around minus 65 on Friday, minus 100 on Friday night and minus 55 to minus 60 on Saturday. Also, those of you planning on skiing Mount Wachusett on Friday and especially on Saturday should probably reconsider as mountaintop wind chill temperatures will be as follows: Around minus 20 by Friday afternoon, around minus 40 on Friday night and Saturday morning and around minus 20 during Saturday afternoon. Sunday & Monday: Fortunately the Arctic air mass will be very short-lived as temperatures will warm up markedly by Sunday and Monday. Sunday looks cloudy and there may be a few rain showers around during the afternoon. High temperatures will be between 35 and 40 Degrees. Monday looks partly sunny with high temperatures near 40 Degrees.