By James Arnold, Weather Specialist
Region – Our storm for tomorrow is taking shape and will give most if not all of southern New England a major snowstorm. The storm will continue to intensify and track off to the northeast during the day, likely passing just to the west of the Benchmark and a bit to the east of Nantucket and the outer Cape. This is the sweet spot for intensifying storms to bring a lot of snow to our region. It also puts us well within the circulation of this storm so we can expect some wind inland and a lot of wind along the coast.
It seems likely that most inland areas will get 10 to 12 inches of windblown snow, and there may be some isolated local reports of up to 15 inches. There is the outside possibility of even seeing some thundersnow tomorrow afternoon, and should any convection develop within the more active/intense snow bands, snowfall totals will go up a bit in those areas. The snow will be pushed around by northeast winds of 20 to 30 mph occasionally gusting to 45 mph, causing blowing and drifting conditions. This will make travel particularly hazardous at times. Along the coast, the Cape and Islands, total snowfall will be a bit less because the precipitation will begin as rain or a wintry mix before soon changing to all snow. Those regions can expect from 7 to 10 inches of snow. The wind will become an issue in these areas as it will blow at 30 to 40 mph with gusts approaching 60 mph on the Islands and the outer Cape. The main concern will be for the potential of power outages, as trees plastered by wet and heavy snow could lose limbs or come down, perhaps taking power lines with them. As far as timing goes, most areas will see snow begin in the early morning hours, likely between 3:00 and 5:00 A.M., and not come to an end until around 7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. in most areas.
While I don’t still see our temperatures becoming as warm as 55° this afternoon, it should reach 50° in most places and over the southeast portion of southern New England temperatures could nudge 58°. Colder air will work back into our area overnight, and temperatures will sag to near 30° in the greater Shrewsbury area and to the mid 30s closer to the coast. Additional cooling will occur tomorrow during the storm, with temperatures falling to the mid 20s to near 30° along ther coast.
And there are still two additional threats for snow coming over the weekend, but both look to be relatively minor. A potential third storm for about Tuesday will have to be watched as well. Winter is here.
James M. Arnold is a retired Weather Specialist who has worked with Shrewsbury Emergency Management Agency; town of Princeton; Worcester Emergency Communications and Emergency Management Agency; Southborough Emergency Management Agency; town of Grafton and Wachusett Mountain Ski Area