The return of sunshine to New England Friday comes with a bubble of dry air behind one departing rainstorm and ahead of the next storm, set to deliver a shot of rain, snow and wind this weekend.
Ahead of the next storm’s arrival, the busy northerly breeze Friday morning has been relaxing slowly but surely and will give way to a quiet night, with clear skies gradually giving way to increasing clouds, but not before low temperatures drop to either side of 30 degrees.
A cloudy Saturday sky, coupled with a southeast wind off the cool, 40 degree ocean water, will ensure Saturday doesn’t warm much – high temperatures are expected to be in the 40s – but the air will turn mild enough to ensure rain, not snow, falls in most of southern New England when precipitation arrives from west to east between 6 p.m. at the New York state line and 11 p.m. at the eastern coast.
How much snow will northern New England get?
In the Berkshires, a few hours of snow will fall, while along and north of Route 2 in central Massachusetts to bordering interior southern New Hampshire a coating to 1 inch may fall before changing to rain, while areas farther north will snow for longer.
Gradually, the strengthening southeast wind will scour out cold for some valleys of northern New England for a change to rain, but not before at least a few inches of snow, and at elevations above about 1,200 feet, total snow accumulations will be several inches.
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Further south, the heaviest rain and strongest wind will come in a predawn Sunday pulse with downpours and south-southeast gusts to 50 mph, resulting in isolated power outages in eastern New England but marching east to give way to breaks of sun from mid-morning onward with just a scattered afternoon shower and highs reaching the 50s except in northern New England. The wind will shift as the storm tracks east along the Maine Coast, blowing from the west in the wake of the storm, with blustery gusts to 35 mph, but no longer strong enough to cause damage.
While most of northern New England will find morning rain and snow breaking apart, the west wind will keep pockets of snow falling along the western slopes.
A follow-up cold front Sunday evening will turn the wind to blow from the northwest, which will keep pockets of snow falling on the northwest facing mountain slopes of northern New England, while the rest of us see a new push of cool air holding high temperatures in the 40s Monday with a northwest wind gusting to 45 mph and a wintry feeling wind chill under variable clouds.
The air quickly moderates from Tuesday onward in New England, with fair weather aside from a Wednesday night shower along a warm front and temperatures rising each day, until reaching near 60 degrees by week’s end, when the chance of showers rises again into the start of next weekend.
