Dry But Cold Weather Is Expected Through Saturday Across Western & Central Mass; Watching A Storm For Sunday's Weather (Issued: Late Tuesday Afternoon 1/27/2026)
- Rob Lightbown

- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
For Tonight: Any leftover scattered snow showers will end by early this evening. Skies will then become clear by midnight with clear skies expected during the after midnight hours of tonight.
Low temperatures will be between Zero and 5 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.
Wednesday Through Friday: An area of high pressure will control the weather throughout the rest of this week. This means that it will be generally dry, but it will also be cold.
Wednesday looks to start out sunny during the morning, but will become increasingly more cloudy during the afternoon. High temperatures will be around 20 Degrees. Winds will be West at 7 to 15 mph.
Wednesday night is expected to feature varying amounts of cloud cover. Low temperatures will be around 5 Degrees. Winds will be West at around 10 mph.
Thursday looks to feature a mixture of sunshine and clouds with high temperatures near 20 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.
Thursday night looks clear to partly cloudy with low temperatures around 5 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.
Friday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures near 15 Degrees.
Saturday: Cold but sunny weather is expected on Saturday with high temperatures between 15 and 20 Degrees.
Another Storm To Closely Watch For Possible Snow On Sunday: Another weekend, another possible winter storm to keep a close eye on.
I continue to keep close tabs on the potential for a coastal storm to form off of the North Carolina coast on Saturday and then head northeastward from there. The uncertainty as to where this storm tracks in relation to our area remains very high & this is not surprising for a 5 day forecast. Because of this, there is a large amount of uncertainty as to how this storm may impact our weather in terms of snow & wind on Sunday.
What I’m actually keeping a close eye on in terms of trends in weather forecast guidance is how a upper-level trough digs and amplifies as it moves into the Eastern United States this weekend. The guidance diverges with some model members showing a closed upper-level low heading across the Ohio Valley while other guidance forecast this upper level low digging as far south as the Carolinas and parts of Georgia. Basically the further south this upper level low digs, the better chance, the coastal surface low pressure system heads out to sea & mostly misses our area.
All of the ingredients are definitely there for the coastal storm system to be quite intense as it heads northeastward from off of the North Carolina coast. The question then becomes how close will this storm system track in relation to our area & this is the part of the forecast that is a big unknown right now.
Based on the most recent data, I see three viable scenarios on how things might unfold this weekend:
The First Scenario Is for the low pressure system to track well south and east of Nantucket on Sunday. This would lead to a complete miss for all of Western and Central Mass & thus no snow at all for Sunday. Right now, I give this scenario a 40 percent chance of happening.
The Second Scenario Is for the low pressure system to track near or just south of Nantucket on Sunday. This would lead to a glancing blow for much of the region. This means that some snow would occur on Sunday across Central Mass leading to perhaps a couple to a few inches of wind-blown snow accumulation & only some scattered snow showers would occur on Sunday across Western Mass. As of right now, I think this second scenario has about a 40 percent chance of occurring.
The Third Scenario Is for the low pressure system to track near or right over the Cape on Sunday. This will lead to a major snowstorm of a foot or more of accumulation along with a lot of wind & even blizzard conditions across all of Western and Central Mass during the day on Sunday. At this time, this third scenario, I think, has about a 20 percent chance of happening.
I want to emphasize that this storm is still some 5 days away from even possibly happening. Because of this, the uncertainty in the forecast is quite large & I fully expect to see many changes in the forecast between now and Sunday. Because of this, I urge you to NOT cancel any plans that you might have for this weekend. Instead, just monitor the weather forecasts and weather updates that I’m sending out, in case there are changes in the forecast.
I also want to caution you when looking through social media. There are a bunch of really “scary” weather forecasts & a ton of hype concerning the weekend storm. Some weather agencies are just posting the worst or “scariest” weather model with no explanation at all, just for those clicks, likes and views. As I mentioned yesterday, I value my integrity any day over social media clicks and views. I will always give it to you straight and always do my very best to not scare you.
No matter whether this storm impacts us or not, I will most definitely keep you updated on the latest.
HELP OUT & SUPPORT ME HERE AT ROUTE 20 WEATHER: First, I’d like to thank everyone once again for your continued support. If it were not for you, I would not be able to do a job that I love so very much – forecasting the weather for Western and Central Mass.
I’m reaching out to you to ask if you would help us out in alleviate the costs required for producing these weather forecasts for Western and Central Mass.
I do not get paid for the weather forecasts and the weather updates that I post on the Route 20 Weather website or on this Facebook page. It’s completely a public service to help out this area of the state which is vastly under served when it comes to weather coverage.
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