WORCESTER – An area of low pressure is forecast to rapidly strengthen near the south coast of New England Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening before moving into the Gulf of Maine later Saturday night into Sunday.
This storm has the potential to bring moderate to possibly heavy amounts of snow to Central Mass on Saturday and Saturday night.
As expected, the exact track of this low pressure system is uncertain and thus I’m not yet able to give you exact details of what to expect in terms of snow amounts and whether we will mix with or change to sleet, freezing rain or rain.
For instance, if we see a storm track right across southern New England, it would mean heavy snow to start with during the day Saturday that changes to sleet and freezing rain on Saturday night before ending Sunday morning.
On the other hand, should we see a track that takes this storm to the south of New England, it would mean mostly all snow with heavy snow amounts possible on Saturday and Saturday night.
One thing that is certain is that this storm system will have a tremendous amount of moisture and energy to work with & thus it is a storm that really needs to be watched closely.
A couple of other things to keep in mind and to watch out for are whether there may be heavy thunderstorm activity over the southeastern United States which could rob some of the moisture from this storm leading to much less impact in Central Mass. The other thing to watch is for a layer of dry air to push in as the storm system moves by. This could also lead to less impact across some areas of Central Mass.
Here Are My Thoughts: I do think that we could see snow, which could be moderate to heavy at times, starting late Saturday morning and continuing through Saturday afternoon. At this point, I do have suspicions that the track of the low pressure system may be close enough so that many areas of Central Mass will change to sleet and freezing rain during Saturday night. The exception may be along and north of Route 2 where it may stay as all snow.
The storm comes to an end early Sunday morning with skies gradually becoming partly sunny during the day Sunday.
My first thoughts on possible snow amounts are for three to six inches of snow accumulation across much of Central Mass on Saturday with some ice accumulations on top of the snow on Saturday night. The exception to this will be along and north of Route 2 where it stays as mostly all snow. Across these areas, six to 12 inches of snow accumulation are a possibility on Saturday and Saturday night.
Obviously, there is plenty of time to keep an eye on this storm for Saturday and Saturday night and I will keep you updated as needed.
For futher details on the forecast, visit Route20Weather.com.
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