Midday Update On The Current Winter Weather System

Generally the forecast for today's winter weather system is going pretty much on schedule.

At the time of this writing, snow has changed to sleet here in Sturbridge with sleet now being reported across many areas near and south of the Mass Pike. Snow is still occurring across areas north of the Mass Pike.

I expect that the sleet will continue across areas near and south of the Mass Pike with this sleet mixing with and changing to freezing rain at times for the next 2-3 hours. For areas north of the Mass Pike, the snow will change to sleet and freezing rain over the next hour and then continue until mid-afternoon.

All precipitation is still expected to end about 3-4 pm.

Finally, the snow was not as fluffy as what you would expect with a cold storm like this. Instead, the snowflakes have been very small, sand-like and quite icy in nature.

Due to this snow composition, the snow ratios with this storm have been pretty low leading to a little less than expected in the way of accumulation. At 11 am this morning, I measured about one inch of snow accumulation and we'll probably end up with about 2 inches total here in Sturbridge. Elsewhere, I suspect we'll end up with snow totals that are near 2 inches or so, which is on the lower end of the forecast snow totals I put out. For a snowfall forecast, the snow to water ratio can make or break a forecast & it is probably the most difficult part of a snowfall forecast to figure out.

Just wanted to explain why the snow didn't seem like it was accumulating fast, even though it was snowing moderately to heavily at times this morning.