For Tonight: Generally cloudy skies are expected throughout tonight. Low temperatures will be between 35 and 40 Degrees. Winds will be West to Northwest at 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday: A strong low pressure system is expected to move into the Great Lakes region. This low pressure system is a lot stronger than what was thought a couple of days ago and because of this, it’ll be able to pull in more milder air and thus most of the precipitation will be rain across much of the region. The exception looks to be across the northern parts of Worcester County and across the Berkshires where a very wet snow will occur, especially during Wednesday night into Thursday.
Cloudy skies are expected throughout the day on Tuesday. Rain is expected to overspread the area during the early and mid-afternoon hours and then continue through the late afternoon hours.
High temperatures will be near 45 Degrees. Winds will be Northeast at 5 to 10 mph in the morning and Northeast at 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night: Rain is expected to continue throughout Tuesday night and some snow and sleet will mix in with the rain at times across the Berkshires and across the northern Worcester Hills.
Low temperatures will be near 35 Degrees. Winds will be East at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.
Wednesday Through Thursday: The forecast for snow for parts of the area is no April Fools’ joke and unfortunately, it is very true.
A long duration storm is expected to bring a combination of heavy rain with renewed flood issues across the area, snow and sleet across northern parts of Worcester County and the Berkshires and very windy conditions from Wednesday through Thursday.
Rain Across Central & Southern Worcester County & The Connecticut River Valley: Rain is expected throughout Wednesday, Wednesday night and Thursday across areas of Central Mass that are near and south of the Mass Pike, as well as across the entire Connecticut River Valley/I-91 corridor.
For areas of Central Mass that are north of the Mass Pike, while rain looks to be generally the main precipitation type throughout Wednesday, Wednesday night and Thursday, sleet and snow will probably mix in with the snow at times, especially in the higher elevations. The higher in elevation you are located at, the more of a mixing with snow and sleet you’ll see.
Current expectations are for around 2 inches of total rainfall to occur across the entire area.
Snow & Sleet Across Northern Worcester County & The Berkshires: The forecast of how much snow and sleet will occur across the region is a very difficult one as the air mass with this storm is very marginal to produce all snow, but instead this looks like a mixed bag of snow, sleet, rain and even freezing rain across the northern Worcester Hills and the Berkshires.
This all means that a mix of very wet snow and sleet will occur throughout Wednesday and Wednesday night across the northern Worcester Hills and probably will reach as far south as Barre, Princeton, Holden and Rutland. Even areas as far south as the north side of Worcester and airport hill in Worcester will probably change to sleet and snow at times during Wednesday and Wednesday night.
Turning to Thursday, periods of sleet and snow will continue through much of Thursday across the northern Worcester Hills and the Berkshires.
As far as accumulations, this is tough as it will be a very marginal air mass to produce all snow.
My thinking is for snow totals from Wednesday through Thursday across Central Mass may range from 3 inches around Princeton and Barre to possibly as much as 6 inches of very wet and heavy snow across areas near and especially north of Route 2. Areas in the Berkshires may end up with upwards of 4 to 8 inches of very wet and heavy snow.
Areas a little further south towards Holden, Rutland and Paxton, snow totals of 1 to 3 inches are possible with even about an inch or two possible for the north side of Worcester and around airport hill in Worcester.
Very Windy Conditions: This storm is also expected to bring some very windy conditions, especially during Wednesday night. These strong winds combined with the pasty very wet and heavy snow across the northern Worcester Hills and the Berkshires is likely to lead to downed trees and power lines causing power outage issues.
Winds during Wednesday will be East at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35-40 mph. Winds on Wednesday night will be East at 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50-55 mph. Winds on Thursday will be Northeast at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph.
Friday Through Sunday: That low pressure system will be slow to move away. Because of this, unsettled weather is likely to persist through Friday and Saturday.
Friday looks cloudy with scattered showers. High temperatures will be between 40 and 45 Degrees.
Saturday is also expected to be cloudy with some scattered showers around. High temperatures will be near 45 Degrees.
Sunday looks partly sunny, especially during the afternoon. High temperatures will be between 45 and 50 Degrees.
Solar Eclipse Forecast For Next Monday: The weather forecast for next Monday’s solar eclipse is looking pretty decent. While we will not see full totality here in Western & Central Mass, we will see anywhere between 92% and 94% totality with the peak of the eclipse occurring between 3:25 pm and 3:30 pm.
An area of high pressure looks to build over New England for next Monday leading to quiet weather. The big question is how much cloud cover will there be and this is a difficult forecast for a week away. I will say that the weather pattern does definitely favor the possibility of quite a bit of sunshine for next Monday.
Anyone planning on traveling north or west to see totality should know that northern New York State, northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northern Maine could be favorable to see the total eclipse of the sun. Areas across western New York State and northwestern Pennsylvania may end up with a mixture of clouds and sun, which could mean a touch and go situation with the eclipse.
Be sure to keep checking back as we get closer to eclipse day.