A northeast wind blowing across New England in the spring often brings clouds, drizzle and showers. Although that was the case during the first half of Monday, a decided trend toward drying and brightening was pronounced Monday afternoon and a sign of what’s to come.
The reason our First Alert Team has been advertising mostly dry and even relatively fair days of weather Tuesday through Thursday is because the persistent northeast wind has blown long enough to carry drier air out of Canada. The result should continue to be intervals of sunshine between periodic bubbling clouds, making for a fair sky. The heartiest clouds will produce a few sprinkles at times but nothing of substantial impact.
Even limited sun provides a relatively strong spring sun angle, which means inland temperatures could reach or exceed 60 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Ocean water temperatures in the 40s will keep daytime highs near the coast in the 50s both days.
A large chunk of high-altitude atmospheric energy moves east from the Great Lakes into the northeast from Thursday into Friday. This is expected to prompt storm development near or directly over southern New England. Rain will develop Thursday evening and night and continue through Friday, along with an increasing and gusty east wind, especially near the coast.
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The story becomes more complicated during the Thursday night and Friday timeframe when looking at the temperatures through the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere over New England. It's cold enough that snow becomes a possibility for some!
Right now we think snow will initially mix in Thursday night for the Green Mountains, Berkshires and Monadnock Region before spreading into the higher terrain of Worcester County on Friday. At least some flakes may mix in during Friday for the suburbs north and west of Boston!
It’s honestly too early with this situation to speak with any confidence on snow amounts. Our exclusive NBC10 Boston and NECN Forecast System is predicting amounts of two to six inches in the hills of the deep interior, with even higher amounts in mountains.
But with a warm ground leading into the event and marginal air temperatures, our team of meteorologists certainly takes a cue from the very guidance we’ve built ourselves. We also step carefully into a slew of variables that can significantly impact how much snow actually accumulates.
Regardless, the windswept rain for many will slow Friday travel for much of New England. Wind gusts may exceed 45 mph at the coast.
The weekend brings improvement with a recovering temperature into the 50s. Our exclusive 10-day forecast features high temperatures into the 60s for at least a couple of days to start the week.
