Dangerous Snow Squalls This Evening, Then Frigid Cold From Polar Vortex
BOSTON (CBS) – We may not be talking about nor'easters or bombogenesis (yet), but there is plenty of wintry weather.
A line of potentially dangerous snow squalls will push through between 3 and 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Snow squalls are similar to summertime thunderstorms. They are brief, but many times they're intense and can cause visibility to drop to near zero within seconds.
While the squalls may only last 10-to-20 minutes, they can drop a quick inch or two of snow, making travel treacherous in a hurry.
Today we may see the first 'Snow Squall Warnings' in our area. It's a new NWS warning similar to a Severe T'Storm warning in summer. #wbz pic.twitter.com/cDXZV0APsg
— Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) January 30, 2019
Wednesday night – Thursday Arctic blast
While the core of the Polar Vortex will pass well to our northwest, heading up into eastern Canada, we will get fringed by a very cold air mass late on Wednesday and into Thursday. Folks in the upper Midwest are getting hit head-on by this blast from the north as we speak.
Temperatures have dropped as low as -20 to -40 degrees in places like Chicago and Minneapolis with wind chills as low as -60 degrees! Thankfully we will NOT experience anything like that here in New England.
We will dip below zero in many of the suburbs Thursday and Friday morning. Daytime high temperatures on Thursday will likely hover right around record low maximums (12 degrees in Boston).
From there, it is a slow but steady climb back to reasonable temperatures - 20's on Friday, 30's on Saturday and 50's by Tuesday of next week!
As we turn the page into February, as of this writing, still no significant snowfall in the forecast. Of course, we all know, there is still plenty of time - but the clock is ticking!
Follow Terry on Twitter @TerryWBZ