Light Snow Thursday Followed By Bitter Cold Friday
BOSTON (CBS) - Most of us will see some snow on Thursday morning, perhaps just enough in areas south of Boston to make for some slick travel on untreated roads. This will NOT be a major event by any means.
TIMELINE
5-7 am: Rain/snow line moves south to about the Cape Cod Canal…steady snow as far north as Boston/128 area, untreated roads become whitened/slippery…just some flurries to the north and west of Boston/128
7-9 am: Rain/snow line now all the way down through the Cape…Snowing light to moderate in most areas south of the Pike, not much happening north of the Pike
9-11 am: Snow continues light to moderate south of the Pike
11 am-1 pm: Snow shield begins to move south and east and make it exit…by 1pm only the Cape is left and by 2pm it is all offshore
The total accumulation on Thursday morning is expected to be a coating to 2" all areas south of the Mass Pike. There could be as much as 3" in a few isolated areas south of Boston in Plymouth and Bristol counties. North of the Mass Pike, up through the MA/NH border, just some flurries and scattered coatings.
BITTER COLD FRIDAY
After the brush of snow on Thursday, Friday brings back a round of bitter cold. Northwest winds will continue to drain in the arctic air through the overnight hours. Central Massachusetts will feel subzero as early as midnight. Wind speeds will not be all that impressive. In fact, we'll likely record 8-to-11 mph sustained winds through Friday morning. That's all it takes to make for a dangerously cold start.
By sunrise on Friday, most of the region will be feeling anywhere from 0 degrees to -10 degrees. And there isn't much relief for the afternoon! Mostly sunny skies will move us through the end of the week but wind chill values will stay in the single digits into the afternoon.
SATURDAY STORM
Then our attention turns to yet another coastal storm headed off to our east on Saturday. A wave of low pressure will form on the tail end of Thursday's cold front way down in the Gulf of Mexico. It will ride up over the southeastern United States and emerge off the Carolina's late Friday. Initially, some models were trying to deepen this system and pull it northward towards New England, now, there is good consensus of a fairly weak and flat wave sliding well south of here early Saturday.
With the storm track being much farther south than what is optimal for a good New England snowstorm, it is likely that most of our area won't see a flake. There is still a chance that some very light snow may fall over parts of extreme southeastern Mass., but even that would be very low impact.