Freezing Rain Expected Across The Northern Worcester Hills With Rain Elsewhere Thursday Morning

For This Afternoon: A northwesterly wind flow will continue to produce chilly weather and windy conditions throughout this afternoon. Skies will be sunny with temperatures of between 40 and 45 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph and this will lead to wind chill temperatures in the 30s. Tonight & Thursday: An area of low pressure is expected to track from the Great Lakes region tonight to across central New England during the day on Thursday. Precipitation out ahead of this low pressure system will overspread the region between about 3 am and 7 am Thursday morning. This precipitation is expected to run into an air mass that has surface temperatures near freezing, especially across the Worcester Hills and the Berkshires. One item that’s changed is that it appears precipitation may begin across areas near and north of Route 2 first beginning about 3 am Thursday morning and then spread across the rest of Western and Central Mass towards mid-morning Thursday. This is important because temperatures may be above freezing across most areas by the time precipitation begins on Thursday morning. The exception to this will be across areas near and north of Route 2 where several hours of freezing rain looks to occur from about 3 am Thursday to about late morning Thursday. Even though the precipitation is expected to be light, it’ll be more than enough to produce some icy roads across the northern Worcester Hills and areas near and north of Route 2 for the Thursday morning commute. Precipitation will change to rain everywhere by early afternoon Thursday with periods of rain continuing until late Thursday afternoon when all rain will come to an end. Here Is A More Detailed Breakdown Of What I’m Thinking: For The Northern Worcester Hills & Areas Near & North Of Route 2: Freezing rain will begin by about 3 am Thursday morning. This freezing rain across the northern Worcester Hills and across areas near and north of Route 2 is expected to continue through the Thursday morning and right up into the mid and late morning hours of Thursday. Freezing rain is expected to change to periods of rain around midday Thursday with the periods of rain continuing through the afternoon hours. Rain will end by late afternoon Thursday. Temperatures will start out around the 30-32 Degree range late tonight and Thursday morning and then warm up to around 40 Degrees by afternoon. Across The Rest Of Western & Central Mass, Including The Springfield Metro & Worcester Metro & All Areas Near The Mass Pike: Rain looks to begin by about 9-10 am Thursday morning. While it appears that the precipitation will be all rain, it’s possible that some sleet or snow could mix in with the rain at first, especially in some of the more hilly terrain. Periods of rain then looks to continue through Thursday afternoon before coming to an end by late afternoon Thursday. Temperatures will initially start out around the 32 to 35 Degree range around sunrise Thursday morning and then warm up to between 40 to 45 Degrees by afternoon.