Heavy Rain & Strong Winds Thurs Night & Friday Will Be Followed By A “Flash Freeze” Friday Evening

For Tonight & Wednesday: An area of high pressure will control the weather throughout tonight and Wednesday. This means that clear to partly cloudy skies are expected tonight with low temperatures between 15 and 20 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Wednesday will be a sunny day with high temperatures between 35 and 40 Degrees. Winds will be West at 5 to 10 mph. Thursday: Even though Thursday will be dry across the region, clouds will begin to increase as a strong low pressure system moves across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley region. High temperatures will be between 40 and 45 Degrees. Winds will be East at 5 to 10 mph. A Strong Storm System Will Bring Heavy Rain, Strong Winds On Thursday Night & Friday & Then A “Flash Freeze” Occurring Friday Evening: A strong storm system is expected to track from the eastern Ohio Valley on Thursday evening to western New York State by Friday morning. This storm system is then anticipated to move into Quebec province during Friday afternoon and evening. This storm is expected to bring significant impacts in the way of heavy rain with flooding, strong winds, which could lead to downed trees, power lines with power outages and finally a “flash freeze” at the end of the storm, which looks to lead to very icy conditions Friday evening through the overnight hours of Friday night. Here Are The Latest Details On This Storm System: Thursday Night: Rain is expected to overspread Western Mass early Thursday evening and then begin across Central Mass by about 10 pm or so. The rain is then expected to become moderate to heavy at times across the entire area after midnight Thursday night. Temperatures will rise from the mid to upper 30s during the evening to the mid to upper 40s by Friday morning. Winds on Thursday night will be East to Southeast and increase from 10 to 20 mph during the evening to 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph late at night. Friday: Rain is expected throughout the day on Friday and it will be heavy at times. Rainfall amounts of around 2 inches are expected with this storm. Because of these heavy rainfall amounts, street, highway and poor drainage flooding is expected. In addition, there’s the possibility for some stream and river flooding across the region and this is something that’ll need to be watched very closely. Also, it’s expected to be very windy throughout the day on Friday with Southeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 to 50 mph. This could lead to downed trees and power lines with power outages a possibility. It should be noted that a period of wind gusts of up to 50-60 mph is a possibility during the late afternoon and evening hours and this could enhance the threat for downed trees, downed power lines and power outages. High temperatures will be between 55 and 60 Degrees. A “Flash Freeze” Is Expected Friday Evening With Very Icy Conditions Expected: On the backside of this strong storm system, it’s expected that a rush of Arctic air will move into the region Friday evening leading to a rapid drop in temperatures. In addition to this, a brief change to snow is also possible Friday evening with a dusting of snow possible before all precipitation ends by midnight. This rapid drop in temperatures could lead to a “flash freeze” of everything with very icy conditions possible. Current indications reveal that temperatures will fall below freezing across Western Mass by about 5-6 pm and then across Central Mass by about 7 pm. This means that streets, highways, parking lots and driveways may be very icy during Friday evening and throughout the overnight hours of Friday night. This means that extreme caution is going to be needed if you are out and about after 5-7 pm Friday. How fast will the temperatures fall? Well, I’m expecting that across Western Mass temperatures will fall from the low 50s around 4 pm to the low 30s by 6 pm to the low 20s by 8 pm. Across Central Mass, I’m forecasting that temperatures will fall from the upper 40s to low 50s around 5 pm to the mid 30s by 6 pm to the mid 20s by 7 pm and then to the low 20s by 8 pm. Once the temperatures rapidly fall on Friday evening, expect a deep freeze by Saturday morning with low temperatures between 15 and 20 Degrees. Finally, it’s expected to continue to be very windy on Friday night with Southwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph throughout the night. This means that a continuing threat for downed trees, downed power lines and power outages are expected. Christmas Eve & Christmas Day: Even though it’s not going to look like a Christmas postcard, it sure is going to feel very much like Christmas this weekend. Christmas Eve is expected to be partly sunny, windy and cold with high temperatures struggling to make it to between 25 and 30 Degrees. Christmas Day looks sunny to partly sunny, windy and cold with high temperatures between 25 and 30 Degrees.