Rain Is Expected From Thursday Night Into Friday Morning Across Western & Central Mass

For This Afternoon: Quite a bit of cloudiness is expected to persist across the region this afternoon. That said, there is likely to be breaks in the clouds that allow sunshine through at times, especially across northern parts of Western and Central Mass. Temperatures this afternoon will be near 40 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight & Wednesday: An area of high pressure is expected to temporarily build into the area for tonight. This means that skies tonight will be partly cloudy with low temperatures near 20 Degrees. Winds will be North at 5 to 10 mph. Skies will start out partly sunny on Wednesday morning, however, clouds will be on the increase as a slow moving frontal system approaches the area. High temperatures will be between 30 and 35 Degrees. Winds will be Northeast at 5 to 10 mph. Wednesday Night & Thursday: That frontal system will continue to slowly approach the are from the west during Wednesday night and Thursday. This means that there will be plenty of clouds around throughout Wednesday night and Thursday. In addition to this, there could be some isolated snow shower activity during late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. As we get into Thursday afternoon, it appears that increasing moisture from that approaching front will lead to perhaps a brief period of light snow across the entire area, especially during the mid and late afternoon hours. Any snow looks to quickly change to rain by Thursday evening. Low temperatures Wednesday night will be between 25 and 30 Degrees. High temperatures Thursday will be near 40 Degrees by very late in the day. Winds on Wednesday night will be East at 5 to 10 mph. Winds on Thursday will be Southeast at 7 to 15 mph. Thursday Night & Friday: It looks like another round of rain is expected across the entire area throughout Thursday night that lasts into Friday. In addition, it does look like the duration of the rainfall is going to be shorter than previously thought with perhaps less overall rainfall expected. The cause of this rainfall is an area of low pressure that’s forecast to move across the eastern Great Lakes region during Thursday night before heading into Quebec province on Friday. Rain is expected throughout Thursday night with the rain coming to an end during Friday morning. Rainfall amounts of between one half of an inch (0.50”) and one inch (1.00”) is expected. Temperatures Thursday night will slowly rise through the 40s. High temperatures Friday will be between 50 and 55 Degrees. This Weekend: We’re going to be watching a couple of low pressure systems that’ll be heading northeastward off of the New England coast. The very important question is how close will these storm systems track in relation to our area. Latest weather forecast guidance have scenarios ranging from a storm system that tracks well east of our area, which would leave our area dry throughout the weekend to a storm system that tracks just east of the Cape, which would pull in enough cold air to produce a wintry mix on Saturday night. At this point, I think that Western Mass should probably stay dry all weekend long. As for Central Mass, there could be some lingering scattered rain showers during Saturday with the possibility for a light wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain later Saturday night into Sunday morning. High temperatures Saturday will be near 40 Degrees. Low temperatures Saturday night will be near 30 Degrees. High temperatures Sunday will be between 35 and 40 Degrees.