Click here for what to know about Sunday's big snowstorm.
The storm that’s been making headlines since it came on the West Coast four days ago, is only halfway across the nation so far. It’s a slow mover due to the fact the traffic jam has developed in the atmosphere, because the storm that hit New England on Wednesday stalled over Newfoundland.
This evening we have winter weather advisories and warnings in effect from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast- including New England for later tomorrow through early Tuesday. The fact that the storm is moving so slowly means we are going to be under its grip for 24 to 36 hours - a long-duration Nor'easter.
We have a clear sky with a bright crescent moon tonight, and the wind is finally decreasing. By morning we are near calm with temperatures close to 20° at the south coast, and near 0° at the Canadian border. That cold start sets the stage for a significant winter storm arriving from southwest to northeast late morning through evening tomorrow.
Clouds will fill the sky during the morning, the first snowflakes arrive in western Connecticut by lunchtime, it will evolve into a wall of snow moving along interstate 90 from Springfield arriving in Boston by 4 PM if not sooner. High temperature mostly in the 30s in southern New England, 20s north.
But near the south coast we may warm to 40° where snow should only last for an hour or two before changing over to rain from Connecticut to Cape Cod.
The sky may remain mostly sunny in Maine where temperatures may top out only near 20° for The Crown of Maine.
Snow may accumulate at 1 to 2 inches an hour for a couple of hours at the onset, before weakening a bit and changing over to sleet and rain during the evening along and south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Even though we may have rain falling near Hartford, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island, the temperature may stay below freezing, setting the stage for a freezing rain event. It’s hard to say whether it’s going to be freezing rain or sleet, but it’s unlikely we stay all snow from Boston to Hartford.
Even from Pittsfield to Worcester Massachusetts we may be in the mix zone.
And that rain-snow line will be fluctuating north and south as the storm slowly evolves south of Nantucket Island and stalls out.
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The precipitation will keep coming in fits and starts all night Sunday night, all day Monday, most of Monday night, and eastern Maine snow and mix may still be going Tuesday morning.
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With snowfall rates varying, we could average out about 1/2 inch per hour - that comes out to 12 to 18 inches in the higher elevations where it is all snow in Central New England. South of that a few to several inches, but wet with ice on top will make it more difficult to deal with than where it is all snow. So do not focus on the 'jackpot' amounts - we are all in for significant disruption in travel plans through Tuesday morning. The exception to the disruption is along the Canadian border and in northern Maine where the most snow has already come down so far this season.
In central and northern Maine, we had a top 10 snowiest November. Now, we’re going to start off December snowy in southern and central New England.
The sun comes back on Tuesday afternoon, but there will be a couple of more fronts we have to watch later in the period and some potentially very cold air, as seen in our First Alert 10-Day Forecast.
