A strong cold front that’s now pushing into far western parts of New York State is expected to move through the area around the 9-10 pm time frame this evening. This is what to expect with the front.
- A squall line of heavy rain and perhaps a couple of thunderstorms will affect the area between 9 pm and 10 pm.
- Much colder air will closely follow the frontal passage leading to a fast temperature drop from about 50 degrees around 9 pm to about 40-45 Degrees by 10 pm, to about 35 Degrees by 11 pm, to about 30 Degrees by midnight and finally into the mid to upper 20s by 1 am.
- Precipitation will rapidly flip from rain around 9-10 pm to sleet & then snow by 11 pm. The snow then looks to continue until about midnight-1 am when it’ll end. Snow amounts of up to one inch looks likely across much of Western and Central Mass. The exception may be across the northern Worcester Hills and the Berkshires where 1 to 2 inches of snow accumulation is possible.
- Expected Winds: South winds of 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 40-50 mph are expected throughout this afternoon into very early this evening. Winds during the frontal passage will go from South winds of 20-30 mph with gusts to 40-50 mph around 9-10 pm to West to Northwest 20-35 mph with gusts to 60-65 mph during the 10-11 pm hour. West to Northwest winds of 20-35 mph with gusts to 60 mph are then expected to continue through and beyond midnight tonight. During the day on Thursday, expect West winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph.
Forecast Impacts:
- A “Flash Freeze” of water is expected to occur on roads, parking lots, driveways and other outdoor objects during about the 11 pm to midnight hour. This means that icy to very icy conditions will become likely by the 11 pm to midnight hour. These icy conditions are expected to persist through well after midnight tonight and perhaps into part of Thursday morning.
- Downed trees, downed power lines and scattered power outages are expected throughout tonight and Thursday due to the 50-65 mph wind gusts.