Weather

FIRST ALERT: Combined Air Systems to Slam Region With Snow, Rain

A quiet Wednesday weather-wise is often not a good sign for the weekend. That's because weather systems take three days to cross the nation. We often see our weather change every three days here in New England.

It’s not a hard fast rule, but in general, and it applies this week.

One storm after another is coming ashore in California. The one that came in on Monday is now crossing the Rockies and will arrive here Friday morning.

Another one that comes in Wednesday will cross the nation and get here Saturday night. That’s why we have first alerts issued for Friday and Sunday.

As for our quiet Wednesday, it is not so quiet in northern Vermont with snow showers and squall possible. There is a cold front moving out of Canada into northwestern New England on Wednesday afternoon.

But ahead of that front, most of us enjoy a good amount of sunshine and temperatures close to 40 degrees. Wind is increasing out of the southwest, gusting past 20 mph this afternoon.

Any evening flurries will dry up with a clearing sky Wednesday night. Low temperatures will be back down to the teens south and single numbers north.

We have a good amount of sunshine for Thursday with a high temperature in the 20s south, 10s north, clouds increase late.

Low pressure will track south of New England on Friday. At the same time, a cold front with a push of Canadian air is coming into Northern New England.

The two weather systems combine to bring periods of snow for most of us midnight Thursday through early afternoon Friday. It’ll warm up just enough that snow may change to rain from Boston south.

It is a general light snow with accumulations of an inch or two, three or more possible in the higher elevations central and north. Accumulations less than an inch expected from Boston south to the coast west to New York City.

We should dry out late Friday with temperatures in the 30s.

Colder air with a little bit of sunshine is here for our Saturday and high temperatures in the 20s south and teens north.

The second half of the weekend features a battle of cold air draining out of Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and warmer air streaming up along the eastern seaboard. A series of low-pressure systems will intensify and move north along that stalled front.

We all get some snow Saturday night, but a rapid change to rain is likely on the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. West of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts and points north through most of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine will see heavy snow Sunday morning. The mix may advance all the way into southern Hampshire and southern Maine by afternoon.

Temperatures in Vermont likely only in the teens while Cape Cod may be in the low 50s. The warm air will not be last long as the wind shifts in the afternoon.

Cold air will rush back down to the coastal areas. And we may see a rapid refreeze anywhere that had rain. It’s going to be icy cold, and windy Sunday night and Monday low temperatures near 0 degrees and highs in the single numbers and teens for most of us.

Next week also looks active with cold air, modifying a chance of another wintry storm by Wednesday or Thursday. For now, we take them one (or two) at a time and talk more about next week later.

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