Mild Temps W/ Periods Of Rain & Possible T-Storms Sat & Sat Evening Across Western & Central Mass

For This Afternoon: Generally cloudy and dry weather is expected this afternoon, however, a few peeks of sunshine is certainly possible this afternoon. High temperatures this afternoon will be near 45 Degrees. Tonight: A strong area of low pressure is expected to move into the Great Lakes region tonight. Ahead of this storm system, a southerly wind flow will push milder temperatures northward into the area. This means that skies will be cloudy tonight and there will likely be areas of fog around. In addition, a few rain showers are likely to overspread Western and Central Mass late tonight. One thing to beware of though is that some areas of spotty light freezing rain is possible late tonight into early Saturday morning across the Berkshires, the northern Worcester Hills and the northern Hilltowns of Western Mass. My recommendation is that if you live north of Route 9, be wary of slippery and icy spots on area roads between about 3 am and 8 am Saturday morning. Low temperatures tonight will be between 32 and 36 Degrees. Saturday: An area of atmospheric energy is likely to lead to a round of showers and maybe a thunderstorm or two during Saturday morning – locally heavy rainfall is possible with some of the heavier shower activity. During Saturday afternoon, we should be in-between weather systems. This means that cloudy skies are expected on Saturday afternoon, but overall it looks dry. Very mild air is expected to stream northward during Saturday, however, it may be impeded by cold air damming up in the Connecticut River Valley and across areas north of Route 2. This means that there could be quite a range in temperatures Saturday afternoon with the Connecticut River Valley and areas north of Route 2 possibly remaining in the upper 30s to mid 40s. Elsewhere across Western and Central Mass, temperatures during Saturday afternoon will be in the 50s to possibly near 60 Degrees. It will become windy by Saturday afternoon with south to southwest winds gusting up to 40 mph at times. Saturday Night: A strong cold front is expected to move across Western and Central Mass during Saturday evening and then move to the east after midnight Saturday night. It appears that this front will bring with it the potential for a wild evening in terms of weather across Western and Central Mass. A line of heavy showers and a thunderstorm or two looks to push across Western Mass between about 7 pm and 10 pm Saturday evening and then across Central Mass between about 8-9 pm and midnight Saturday evening. The dynamics and forcing with this front looks pretty strong and because of this, brief wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph are quite possible with this line of showers and thunderstorms. My recommendation is that if you have outdoor Christmas decorations set up – make sure they are secured well and if they can be tied down, it may be best to do just that. Once that front moves through, temperatures are expected to fall pretty quickly from the 50s in the evening to the 30s by about midnight. Also, west winds are likely to gust up to 40 mph at times after midnight Saturday night. Sunday: An area of high pressure is expected to build into the area on Sunday. Overall, it looks like Sunday will feature a mixture of sunshine and clouds and it will be a chilly and windy day. High temperatures Sunday will be between 40 and 45 Degrees. West winds are expected to gust up to 30 to 35 mph at times on Sunday. Next Week’s Weather Forecast: A large high pressure system is expected to position itself over the eastern United States for a large part of next week. This means that a relatively dry and certainly quiet weather pattern looks likely for next week. Monday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures between 45 and 50 Degrees. Tuesday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures between 45 and 50 Degrees. Wednesday looks partly sunny with high temperatures between 45 and 50 Degrees. A weak frontal system may push across the area on Thursday bringing with it cloudy skies and the possibility of a few rain showers. High temperatures Thursday will be near 55 Degrees. Some sunshine may return for next Friday with high temperatures between 45 and 50 Degrees.