Rain Turning to Snow as Arctic Blast Hits New England
By Tim Kelley ••
Tuesday: Patchy black ice north. Rain showers end as a dusting to 1″ of afternoon snow, some evening black ice possible. Highs in the 40s, falling fast late. Tuesday Night: Gradual clearing. Temperatures drop into the teens to around 20. Wednesday: Numbing-record cold. Highs below freezing gusts up to 30 mph with wind chills in the single digits and teens.
Tuesday is the day the much-advertised, powerful arctic cold front crosses New England.
In northern New England and west through the Berkshires, the cold air is already well-entrenched and snow continues to fly with another few fresh inches falling Tuesday.
For the rest of us, it’s all about timing as the cold front poised to change rain to snow will march southeast, bringing that change to southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts shortly after midday. It may arrive in the Boston area by mid-afternoon and to Cape Cod around dinnertime.
As rain changes to snow, temperatures will fall quickly through the 30s and even into the 20s. This means that although not much snow is expected – on the order of a coating to as much as an inch in some spots – the moisture will cling to and freeze on roadways in the afternoon and evening.
This will create areas of road ice that will need to be treated and may become hazardous.
As arctic air blasts in Tuesday night, skies will clear and temperatures will plummet into the teens for many, with wind chill values landing either side of zero and staying there for the morning commute and kids at the bus stop Wednesday morning.
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Even with tons of sun, Wednesday high temperatures won’t exceed 30 degrees and wind chill values won’t surpass 20 during the warmest time of the day. By Thursday, the air won’t be as cold, but it won’t be comfortable either, with more clouds and highs only topping out near 40 degrees.
Caltrans via AP
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Texas Parks & Wildlife Department via AP
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John LocherAP
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Courtesy Inge Groot
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Friday brings a one-day burst of warmer wind before another chunk of chilly air descends on New England for the weekend. Eventually, this leads to another period of disturbed weather early next week in our exclusive First Alert 10-Day Forecast.
At this time, it looks to be a bit milder storm for the Boston area, though a wintry mix is possible farther north.
