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

For Tonight: This evening looks “nice” in comparison to what Friday through Saturday is going to be like. Skies this evening will be partly cloudy with a diminishing southwesterly wind. During the after midnight hours, an Arctic cold front will push southeastward from northern New England. It is expected that this front will move through the region from northwest to southeast starting across the Berkshires and the Western part of Mass between about 1 am and 3 am and then pushing across Central Mass by 4 to 5 am Friday morning. I do think that this front will be accompanied by a few snow showers and maybe a snow squall, which will be most possible across Western Mass between midnight and 3 am and across Central Mass between 3 am and 5 am Friday morning. Any snow accumulations from any snow showers may amount up to one inch of fluffy light snow. Once that front moves through, northwest winds will gust up to 40 mph and the temperatures will fall from the 20s into the teens. This looks to occur across Western Mass after 3 am Friday morning and across Central Mass after 5 am Friday morning. This means that by the time the sun rises on Friday morning, temperatures will be falling pretty quickly through the teens and towards the single numbers and the winds will be quite gusty. Dangerously Cold Weather Is Still Expected Friday Through Saturday: Friday: Even though skies throughout Friday will feature plenty of sunshine, it’ll be quite ineffective as the combination of frigid temperatures and strong winds will make for some dangerous wind chill values throughout the day Friday. Temperatures during the day on Friday will fall from between 5 and 10 Degrees during the morning to between Zero and 5 Degrees during the afternoon. It will be quite windy throughout the day on Friday with Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 to 50 mph. This will lead to wind chill temperatures of 10 to 20 below zero during the morning and around 20 below zero during the afternoon. Unfortunately, the worst of the wind chill temperatures are expected Friday night. So, even though Friday looks bitterly cold, Friday night will be even worse. Friday Night: The core of the Arctic air mass will sink right over our area during Friday night. This will lead to temperatures to bottom out at between 10 and 15 below zero across the entire area. To make things even worse will be the continuation of the very gusty northwest winds, which are expected to continue through Friday night. I expect Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 to 55 mph throughout the night. This will lead to some truly dangerous wind chill values during Friday night. I expect that we will see wind chill temperatures of around 30 below zero during the evening and wind chill temperatures of around 40 below zero after midnight Friday night. Wind chill temperatures in the 30 to 40 below zero range is truly dangerous as frostbite will occur in about 10 minutes for those exposed to these types of temperatures. This means that if you have to be outdoors for any length of time from Friday afternoon through Friday night and Saturday morning, I strongly 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 during Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. 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 throughout Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. Turning To Saturday: Fortunately, this Arctic air mass will move out as fast as it moved in. That said, Saturday still looks bitterly cold, especially during the morning. The bright sunshine will once again be quite inefficient in trying to warm things up. Temperatures on Saturday morning will be in the 5 to 15 below zero range with temperatures rising above zero across most areas by midday or so. Afternoon high temperatures on Saturday look to be around 15 Degrees or so. It’ll still be windy on Saturday with West to Northwest winds of 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 to 40 mph. This will lead to wind chill temperatures of minus 30 to minus 35 during the morning and wind chill temperatures “warming up” to around zero during the afternoon. Finally - 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 extraordinarily dangerous with record breaking cold temperatures and even record breaking wind chill temperatures expected. Current indications are showing the potential conditions across the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine: Friday: Temperatures falling from minus 30 in the morning to minus 40 during the afternoon. Winds West to Northwest 75 to 100 mph with gusts to 110 mph. Wind chill temperatures falling to 90 to 100 below zero by afternoon. Friday Night: Low temperatures of 40 to 50 below zero (All time record low temperature for Mount Washington is minus 47 and that could be broken Friday night!). Winds Northwest 75 to 100 mph with gusts to 110 mph. Wind chill temperatures of 100 to 110 below zero (All time record low wind chill temperature for Mount Washington is 97 below zero and again, that could be broken). Saturday: Temperatures “warm up” from minus 40 in the morning to minus 10 by late in the day. Winds Northwest 75 to 100 mph with gusts to 110 mph in the morning and West at 50 to 75 mph with gusts to 90 mph during the afternoon. Wind chill temperatures of 100 below zero are expected in the morning and 50 below zero during the afternoon. Also, those of you planning on skiing Mount Wachusett on Friday or Saturday should probably reconsider as mountaintop wind chill temperatures will be as follows: Around minus 30 during Friday morning, minus 30 to minus 40 during Friday afternoon, around minus 40 to minus 50 on Friday night and Saturday morning and around minus 10 during Saturday afternoon. Sunday Through Wednesday: Fortunately the Arctic air mass will be very short-lived as temperatures will warm up markedly by Sunday and Monday. Sunday looks cloudy with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees. Monday looks cloudy with high temperatures near 45 Degrees. Tuesday is expected to be cloudy and there may be some late day scattered rain showers as a frontal system pushes through. High temperatures will be near 45 Degrees. Wednesday looks partly sunny with high temperatures near 50 Degrees.

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