Our first impactful and widespread snowstorm of the season in southern New England started Saturday evening and continues into Sunday afternoon.
There’s a lot at stake with this one, especially along the coastline where the thought process continues to be focused on the relatively mild ocean water and a gusty easterly wind which will develop. This will certainly be a determining factor in terms of snow totals across the area (from coastal to inland communities) which will be greatly impacted by the wind direction which will affect the overall temperatures.
When does the snow start in Boston?
Right now it looks like the east wind wins out keeping snow amounts low along the coastal plain, but we won’t let our guard down in case there are some subtle changes once the storm gets going overnight and Sunday.
Expect clouds to increase and thicken throughout this afternoon with a few coastal flurries and snow showers developing. Highs reach the mid to upper 30s south, upper 20s north.
New England snow forecast
Snow breaks out from west to east this evening and ramps up overnight with a few communities seeing 1-2” per hour snow rates after midnight. Along the immediate coastline, south shore of Boston, and down over the Cape, rain will mix in and the precipitation which is expected to flip to all rain.
The wind will also ramp up overnight as low pressure develops just south of the New England coast with an east/northeast wind developing gusting up to 40, up to 50 by daybreak over the Cape and Islands. Overnight lows drop into the upper 20s to low 30s inland, mid 30s along the coast, 20s northern New England.
Precipitation is expected to wind down a bit after daybreak with snow inland, mix/rain along the coast with temperatures starting out below freezing inland, above freezing along the coast.
At this time our system will start to pull away from the region which will allow cold air to funnel back into the area via a gusty north wind resulting in a flash freeze on untreated surfaces…we’ll also see another round of precipitation coincide with the cold air moving back in, this is when the coast will start to make up on snow accumulations.
Live radar of the Massachusetts snowstorm
Morning temps start out around 30 inland, 20s north, mid 30s coast, falling back into the 20s in the afternoon via a gusty north wind. Snow pulls out early Sunday night as low pressure exits east. Very cold start to the work week with early morning temps in the teens Monday morning, climbing into the 30s in the afternoon with some sunshine.
The pattern stays active as we will be closely monitoring our next system arriving here by the middle of next week which will likely have significant impacts to the region with heavy rain and gusty winds. Beyond that, another storm possible by the weekend, that one looks a bit colder. More on those in the days to come, one storm at a time….
