Snow, Sleet & Rain Expected From Late Thursday Night Through Friday Into Saturday

For Tonight Through Thursday: Clear to partly cloudy skies are expected for tonight with low temperatures near 25 Degrees. Winds will be North at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Clouds are expected to be on the increase during the day on Thursday as an area of low pressure takes shape over central and eastern North Carolina. Some scattered showers of snow, sleet and rain are expected by late afternoon, however, the steady precipitation with the coastal storm will hold off until Thursday night. High temperatures will be between 35 and 40 Degrees. Winds will be Northeast at 5 to 10 mph. Snow, Sleet & Rain Is Expected Beginning Thursday Evening & Continuing Through Friday Into Saturday: An area of low pressure is expected to track from the North Carolina coastline on Thursday night to near Nantucket by Friday night and then towards Nova Scotia by late Saturday. This storm is likely to bring all winter weather precipitation types during different parts of the storm. This factor is going to make for an extremely difficult forecast as there’s uncertainty as to where the precipitation will stay as all snow & how much snow may occur on the backside of the storm later Friday night and Saturday. Thursday Night: Precipitation is expected to start as a rain-snow mix across the Pioneer Valley of Western Mass, as well as across areas near and south of the Mass Pike during Thursday evening. North of the Mass Pike and across the Berkshires and the western Hilltowns of Western Mass, the precipitation will start as snow during Thursday evening. During the overnight hours of Thursday night, it appears that the changeover line from snow to rain will push as north as the Route 2 corridor with all snow occurring all night across the Berkshires and the northern Worcester Hills. Across the rest of Western and Central Mass, rain mixed at times with sleet and snow is likely to occur. Friday & Friday Night: There is going to be a fight between milder air trying to work in at the low-levels of the atmosphere and colder air trying to avoid being pushed out of the way throughout Friday and Friday night. This could lead to a very elevation dependent winter storm across the entire area. Because of this, the Pioneer Valley of Western Mass will likely stay as all rain all day Friday with the rain gradually changing back to snow during Friday night. Across areas near and south of the Mass Pike, mostly all rain is expected throughout Friday with the rain mixing & maybe even changing to snow and sleet at times, especially in the hills around Monson, Palmer, Brimfield, Sturbridge and Charlton. During Friday night, it appears that rain may change back to snow during the evening with the snow continuing through the overnight hours of Friday night. Saturday: As that low pressure system moves towards Nova Scotia, it will pull down colder air leading to the potential for snow to persist throughout the morning on Saturday before it comes to an end during the afternoon. Late Friday night and Saturday morning is when most of the snow from this system will occur across much of the region. The exception will be the northern Worcester Hills and the Berkshires where snow looks to occur throughout this storm. Forecast Snow Totals: The least amount of snow looks to occur across the lower and middle Pioneer Valley and east of I-190 and I-395 where 1 to 2 inches of snow may occur. Across areas of the Mass Pike between Palmer and Auburn, snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches are possible with most of that occurring during the overnight hours of Friday night and Saturday morning. Across areas northwest of Worcester, but south of Route 2, including Paxton, Rutland, Holden and Hubbardston, snow amounts of 3 to 6 inches are possible with most of that occurring on Friday night and Saturday morning. In the upper Pioneer Valley, as well as across areas near and north of Route 2, snow amounts of 6 to 8 inches of wet and heavy snow looks possible. The area that may see the highest snow totals from this storm could be the western Hilltowns of Western Mass and the Berkshires where snow totals of 8 to 12 inches are possible. Isolated amounts of 12 to 15 inches are a possibility in the Berkshires. This is going to be wet and heavy snow and because of this, the weight of the snow on the trees and powerlines could lead to downed trees and powerlines across the Berkshires and the western Hilltowns. I want to reiterate once again that the uncertainty with the exact track of this storm is still high and any shifts further east in the storm track could lead to more snow across areas south of Route 2. I do have concerns that the strong dynamics on the backside of this storm system could lead to a very rapid changeover of snow Friday night that ends up accumulating more than what I’m forecasting right now. It’s something that I’m not forecasting to occur, but it’s something that I am watching out for.