Rain & Very Mild Temperatures Expected On Saturday Across Western & Central Mass

For This Afternoon: A weak warm front will approach the region this afternoon. This means that high cirrus clouds will filter the sunshine this afternoon. High temperatures this afternoon will be near 35 Degrees. Tonight: That warm front will continue to approach the area tonight. Some lift and moisture ahead of this front will lead to cloudy skies tonight. In addition, there may be a snow shower or two mainly across areas well north of the Mass Pike and especially over far northern parts of Worcester County after midnight tonight. Low temperatures tonight will be between 25 and 30 Degrees. Friday: A cloudy day is expected on Friday with high temperatures near 45 Degrees. Friday Night: That warm front is expected to lift northward across Southern New England during Friday night. Cloudy skies are expected on Friday night and there is expected to be some scattered rain showers after midnight. Temperatures are expected to initially fall into the low 30s during Friday evening and then rise into the mid and upper 30s late Friday night. Saturday & Saturday Night: An area of low pressure and its associated cold front located over the central and eastern Great Lakes region will push eastward during Saturday and is expected to move across Western and Central Mass during Saturday evening. The temperatures ahead of this cold front will be very mild for this time of year with high temperatures of 60 to 65 Degrees expected during Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening. Those temperatures will quickly fall to the 30s by midnight Saturday night once that cold front moves through. In addition, it will be windy on Saturday and Saturday night. South winds are expected to gust up to 35 to 40 mph at times during Saturday and Saturday evening with the winds shifting to a west and northwest direction after midnight Saturday night. Also, this looks like a rather wet system with periods of rain expected throughout the day on Saturday and a period of heavy rain possible with the frontal passage during Saturday evening. The rain will quickly come to an end around midnight or so on Saturday night. Rainfall amounts of up to one inch is expected during Saturday and Saturday evening. Sunday: Cooler temperatures with windy conditions are expected on Sunday with sunny skies expected throughout the day. High temperatures Sunday will be near 45 Degrees. Next Week’s Weather Outlook: A period of dry and quiet weather looks likely for a good part of next week as a large high pressure system builds over the eastern United States. Monday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures between 45 and 50 Degrees. Tuesday is expected to be sunny with high temperatures near 50 Degrees. Wednesday looks partly sunny with high temperatures near 50 Degrees. A weak frontal system may push across the area next Thursday bringing with it some scattered rain shower activity. High temperatures next Thursday will be near 50 Degrees. Some sunshine may return for next Friday with high temperatures near 50 Degrees. Finally – For those of you that are dreaming of a White Christmas, there is still hope for one, so don’t give up hope. There are growing signals in the weather pattern that point to that the weather pattern may become more wintry during the week of December 20th. With that said, I think that the signals look stronger for a higher chance for winter weather during the week between Christmas and the New Year. The latest data seems to point towards a pattern that shifts from an upper level high pressure ridge over the eastern United States for the next 7 days or so to a pattern that features an upper level trough of low pressure over the eastern United States starting around December 20th. Should this occur, it would mean that temperatures should trend towards either near average or below average near Christmas with the possibility for winter weather to really keep an eye on around Christmas. This current pattern reminds me a little of December of 2017 where we warmed up the week before Christmas and then just managed to get a White Christmas as it snowed during Christmas morning. This was followed by a stretch of very cold weather with below zero low temperatures and high temperatures in the teens and 20s from December 27, 2017 to January 9, 2018. Could we see something similar later this month into January? Given what I’m seeing with the data, it’s definitely possible.