For This Afternoon: Rain shower activity will be on the increase this afternoon with a steady rain approaching the area by this evening. High temperatures this afternoon will be near 50 Degrees. Winds this afternoon will be east at 6 to 12 mph with gusts to 20 mph.
Tonight: An area of low pressure is expected to track across northern New England tonight bringing with it a round of heavy rain this evening.
Steady rain will overspread Western Mass by 5 to 6 pm today and then overspread Central Mass during the 6 to 7 pm time frame this evening. The rain is expected to fall at a heavy rate at times throughout this evening with the rain quickly ending between midnight and 2 am tonight.
Total rainfall amounts of around one inch is expected across the entire area.
As for flood concerns, I think that street, poor drainage and basement flooding will be a threat, especially this evening. River or stream flooding is not expected.
Temperatures tonight will be steady between 45 and 50 Degrees. It will be windy tonight with southwest winds at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 to 45 mph.
Wednesday: It looks like Wednesday will be a very mild, but windy day across the entire area. Skies on Wednesday will start out cloudy, but will become a mixture of sunshine and clouds during the afternoon. In addition, there could be a couple of isolated rain showers around during the late morning and early afternoon hours of Wednesday.
High temperatures Wednesday will be between 60 and 65 Degrees. Winds on Wednesday will be west at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 to 40 mph.
Wednesday Night: Much colder air moves back into the area on Wednesday night under partly cloudy skies. Low temperatures Wednesday night will be between 20 and 25 Degrees. Winds on Wednesday night will be northwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph before midnight and northwest at 7 to 14 mph after midnight.
Thursday: A partly sunny day is expected on Thursday with high temperatures near 35 Degrees. Winds on Thursday will be north at 5 to 10 mph.
A Messy Winter Storm Is Expected For Late Thursday Night Through Friday: An area of low pressure is expected to track northeastward towards the area on Thursday night and then track near the south coast of New England during the day on Friday. This storm has the potential to bring a “thump” of heavy snow late Thursday night and Friday morning that will be followed by a change to sleet and freezing rain for Friday afternoon.
Snow is expected to begin across all of Western and Central Mass a little after midnight on Thursday night (probably 2-3 am or so).
The snow will then become moderate to heavy in intensity at times from late Thursday night through a large portion of Friday morning. It looks likely that snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour will be occurring during the Friday morning commute.
It looks likely that a change from snow to sleet and freezing rain will occur first across the area along and south of the Mass Pike by mid to late morning Friday. It’s possible that the changeover line from snow to freezing rain and sleet may only reach the Route 9 corridor by early Friday afternoon with areas north of Route 9 staying as all snow, including the entire Route 2 corridor.
This means that during the early and mid-afternoon hours of Friday, there will be sleet and freezing rain along and south of Route 9, including the entire Mass Pike corridor with snow occurring north of Route 9, including the entire Route 2 corridor.
All precipitation changes back to snow everywhere across Western and Central Mass by late Friday afternoon.
All snow with this storm system is currently expected to end by early Friday evening.
My Forecast Impact Map In Terms Of Snow, Sleet & Freezing Rain Amounts Is Attached To This Post.
I will continue to keep a very close eye on this late week storm and will have updates for you as needed.