Mild showers start the weekend, snow ends it for some

As we approach the weekend, New England is undergoing a weather transformation — from recent chill to incoming milder air, most pronounced on Friday. 

A southwesterly wind flow has begun both at the surface and aloft, initiating the flow of milder air into New England. The first evidence of this milder air came early Thursday morning, before dawn, as a round of clouds moved overhead.

The next round of clouds — developing along the clash of outgoing cold and incoming warmth aloft — arrives Thursday afternoon and evening, mostly high and middle altitude clouds with near-surface air too dry to allow for any rain or snow.

In fact, the multiple consecutive days of dry air has an impact on the body and is the reason our First Alert Team is reminding folks across New England of dehydration and the important of drinking water Thursday: you've probably noticed chapped lips, dry skin or perhaps even dull headaches from the recent stretch of dry air that deceptively dehydrates the body given the absence of heat.

The air will moisten Friday as the next push of milder air arrives, and this means morning sunshine will fade behind clouds Friday, leading to rain showers Friday afternoon that arrive from west to east and stay into Friday night as temperatures drop from daytime highs in the 50s to night lows in the 40s for most, 30s in the North Country. 

Saturday, a cold front slowly sags south across Northern New England, stalling as a stationary front Saturday afternoon into Sunday over central and southern New England — separating increasingly cool air across New England's North Country from relatively mild air in the 50s in far southern New England.

With no jet stream disturbances passing over the stalling front Saturday, the chance of showers is rather limited for most of New England, with more clouds than sun anticipated, but a mostly dry day.

Northern New England will see more showers cropping up as an upper atmosphere disturbance passes through Saturday afternoon, though the air will be cold enough for one to three inches of snow to fall in Northern Maine. 

That same cold air continues to slowly settle south Sunday, changing rain showers to snow showers across northern New England from hilltop to valley, midday to evening, until accumulating snow will be falling for most of northern New England by Sunday evening and night.

Farther south, multiple rain showers are likely to crop up Sunday, though even the push of cooler air Sunday night should fail to deliver snow to southern New England, with showers continuing into Monday as snow continues to fall in northern New England.

By the time drier air arrives next Tuesday onward, five day totals of either side of an inch of rain will have fallen for most, but 4 inches to 8 inches will have fallen in the Green and White Mountains, with over a foot of snow possible in northern Maine!

A drier midweek will bring cool air before another chance of rain and snow showers returns Friday into Saturday of next weekend, at the end of our exclusive, First Alert 10-day forecast.