The steady stream of energetic disturbances through the sky of New England continues for days to come – creating periods of clouds, flurries, sprinkles and showers of snow and rain, but cut off from substantial moisture locked way to the south in the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Tropical Atlantic, meaning significant storm development just isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Instead, each energetic disturbance aloft will help to focus building clouds and scattered snow showers that will drop a scattered coating of snow regionwide, and more focused accumulations in the mountains as each day through Thursday brings progressively cooler air.
The first such period of clouds and flurries comes Tuesday afternoon with little fanfare.
Wednesday features a couple of disturbances aloft, meaning clouds will fill in very early in the day with morning snow showers and flurries likely focused especially in Connecticut and in the western mountains, where a coating and one to two inches of snow are expected, respectively.
Elsewhere, not much snow accumulation is expected but beneath clouds, temperatures will be held in the 30s at their warmest and with a busy breeze from the west, the wind chill factor won’t exceed the 20s.
To our south, Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C., will be cool, but certainly not cold by January standards, with a noon temperature just over 40 degrees under a fair sky with the same steady northwest wind we'll have in New England also blowing into our nation's Capitol, with wind chill values in the 30s.
Another disturbance Thursday will mean more clouds, flurries and snow showers with scattered light accumulation, before a one-day reprieve Friday, when temperatures will rise back above 40 degrees for many as increased sun returns.
The sun sticks around for the weekend – temperatures above 40 do not. Following a cold front passage later Friday, a northwest wind will usher chilly air into New England from Canada, making 30 degrees a challenge to reach both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, and that same northwest wind will hold wind chill values in the teens and 20s at the warmest time of both days.
More on Climate Change
As the cold air starts to relax early next week, the window opens for returning moisture to New England. A storm will develop late this weekend out of the Four Corners of the southwest United States and march east early next week, making its closest pass to New England Monday night into Tuesday.
As with many of the storms over the last few weeks, the biggest question this far out is whether the storm reaches far enough north to put New England into its precipitation shield, or if it cuts south of us and out to sea. From this far out, it’s impossible to speak with certainty but we’ll continue to watch this timeframe as the soonest possible storm – nothing significant expected prior to that.
Regardless of whether the storm hits, next week certainly looks colder than this week, overall, in our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast.
