Rain Is Expected From Thursday Afternoon Through Friday With The Possibility Of A Change To Some Wet Snow Friday Afternoon & Friday Evening Across Some Parts Of Western & Central Mass

For This Afternoon Through Wednesday: A westerly wind flow is expected to be in place across the region from this afternoon through Wednesday. This means that dry conditions can be expected across Western and Central Mass.

A mixture of sunshine and clouds can be expected throughout this afternoon. Temperatures will be near 55 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

Clear to partly cloudy skies are expected throughout tonight. Low temperatures will be between 35 and 40 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph.

Wednesday is looking like a day where we’ll see a mixture of sunshine and clouds. High temperatures will be around 55 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 15 mph in the morning and West at 6 to 12 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday Through Saturday: It appears that we are going to turn rainy as we get into Thursday, Thursday night and Friday as an area of low pressure tracks off of the Mid-Atlantic coast and heads towards coastal parts of Southern New England. The big question with this forecast is whether the rain will change to any wet snow or not during Friday and Friday night.

While the weather guidance is in pretty good agreement on the idea that it’s going to rain starting Thursday afternoon and then last through Thursday night and Friday, they are in poor agreement with each other in the forecast of whether the rain will change to some wet snow during Friday and Friday night.

Some of the weather forecast guidance such as the European model keeps the precipitation as mostly all rain from Thursday through Friday. Although, even this model does show a rain-snow mix to possibly occur across the Berkshires and the northern Worcester Hills during Friday afternoon and Friday evening.

Other weather forecast guidance such as the GFS model and especially the Canadian model seems to suggest a definite flip from rain to wet snow across much of Central Mass (areas east of Worcester and across the Blackstone Valley stays as all rain) and across parts of Western Mass (the Pioneer Valley stays as rain) during Friday afternoon and Friday evening.

So, Here Are My Thoughts: I do still think that a majority of the late week storm will be rain. That said, there could be just enough cold air pulled in during Friday afternoon and Friday evening for the rain to at least mix with wet snow & maybe even change to all wet snow in the hills. Even if this occurs, I think any snow accumulation will be limited to a very slushy inch at most on non-pavement and grassy surfaces.

Rain looks to begin across all of Western and Central Mass by early Thursday afternoon. The rain is then expected to continue through Thursday afternoon and Thursday night. I do think that the intensity of the rain will be mainly light to occasionally moderate. High temperatures Thursday will be near 50 Degrees. Winds on Thursday will be East at around 10 mph. Low temperatures Thursday night will be between 35 and 40 Degrees.

Turning to Friday, rain looks to continue through the morning hours across all of Western and Central Mass. As we get into Friday afternoon and Friday evening, it’s possible that the rain will mix with or even perhaps change to some wet snow across parts of Western and Central Mass. Areas that have the best chance of seeing a change from rain to wet snow looks to be across the Worcester Hills, across the hilltowns of Western Mass and across the Berkshires. Lower elevation areas & especially valley locations will probably stay as all rain during Friday afternoon and Friday evening.

Up to one inch of very slushy snow on non-pavement surfaces and grassy surfaces is possible across the Worcester Hills, the hilltowns of Western Mass and across the Berkshires. I want to emphasize that roads and other paved surfaces will very likely stay wet even if the rain changes to wet snow.

High temperatures Friday will be around 40 Degrees. Low temperatures Friday night will be between 30 and 35 Degrees.

During Saturday, I expect to see cloudy skies throughout the day. In addition, I do think that we will see some on and off scattered rain and snow showers throughout the day. No snow accumulation is anticipated from any of the snow shower activity. High temperatures will be near 40 Degrees.

Sunday: Sunday looks cloudy & it’s possible that there could be a couple of isolated showers around from time to time. High temperatures will be near 45 Degrees.