Some Wintry Weather Expected Late Tuesday Night & Wednesday Morning Across Western & Central Mass

For The Rest Of This Afternoon: Any leftover showers over Central Mass will end by mid-afternoon. In addition, increasing amounts of sunshine will continue across Western Mass with clearing skies expected across Central Mass by sunset. Temperatures will be between 44 and 48 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 7 to 15 mph. Tonight & Monday: An area of high pressure is expected to build into the region tonight and remain in control through Monday. Tonight will feature clear to partly cloudy skies with low temperatures near 30 Degrees. Winds will be West at 10 to 20 mph. Monday will be a sunny day with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees. Winds will be Northwest at 10 to 20 mph. Tuesday: Skies will start out sunny to partly sunny during the morning with clouds expected to increase and thicken up during the afternoon as a low pressure system takes shape over the Mid-Atlantic states. High temperatures will be between 40 and 45 Degrees. Winds will be North to Northeast at 5 to 10 mph. Tuesday Night Through Wednesday: That low pressure system is forecast to track near the south coast of New England late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning before moving into the Gulf of Maine and towards Nova Scotia Wednesday afternoon. Latest indications are that the chances for widespread wintry precipitation in form of snow and freezing rain have increased a bit for late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. There are a couple of reasons for this – The first reason is that the precipitation with this storm system looks to begin by about midnight Tuesday night. Because of this, the temperatures when the precipitation begins will be cold enough to support snow. The second reason why is because it is expected that there will be a north to northeast surface wind and this could trap enough cold air near the surface to cause the wintry precipitation to persist into Wednesday morning. Because of this, there is an increasing risk for the snow to change to freezing rain for a few hours during Wednesday morning, especially in the Worcester Hills and in the Berkshires. Any freezing rain is likely to change to all rain between late morning and midday Wednesday. In Terms Of Forecast Details, Here Are My Thoughts: It looks like snow will develop everywhere across Western and Central Mass around midnight or so Tuesday night. The snow, which should be light in intensity, is then expected to continue through the after midnight hours of Tuesday night into the predawn hours of Wednesday morning. A change from snow to freezing rain looks likely to occur first across areas south of the Mass Pike just before sunrise Wednesday morning and then across areas along the Mass Pike around sunrise Wednesday morning. The changeover line from snow to freezing rain is expected to push northward reaching the Route 2 corridor by mid-morning Wednesday. As for the length of freezing rain before it changes to rain, it currently appears that the freezing rain may change to rain south of the Mass Pike by about 7-8 am and then along the Mass Pike by about 9 am or so. For areas north of the Mass Pike and especially in the Worcester Hills, the changeover from freezing rain to rain may not occur until just before midday Wednesday. Rain is then expected to continue through all of Wednesday afternoon before it ends near sunset Wednesday. Snowfall amounts are expected to range from a dusting near and south of the Mass Pike to less than one inch in areas from north of the Mass Pike to areas south of Route 2. For areas near and north of Route 2, it appears that snow amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible before it changes to freezing rain. As for ice accumulations, most areas will see a very light glaze of ice early Wednesday morning. That said, any freezing rain accumulation could lead to some slick roads during the Wednesday morning commute, so, be aware of this. It should be noted that the Berkshires into the western Hilltowns of Western Mass could see up to one tenth of an inch of ice accumulation during Wednesday morning. Low temperatures Tuesday night will be between 30 and 35 Degrees. High temperatures Wednesday afternoon will be near 45 Degrees. Thursday Through Saturday: An area of high pressure will control the weather for late this coming week. Thursday is expected to be partly sunny with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees. Friday looks sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees. Saturday is expected to be sunny to partly sunny with high temperatures between 40 and 45 Degrees.