Mild Breezy Weekend...Before The Arctic Charge!
The weekend is getting off to a fine start depending upon where you are as usual. The best weather will be found in southern New England today. Early sun is fading behind clouds. Winds are picking up from the SW with gusts to 30-50! A blustery windy day. Temps will be able to climb in to the mid-upper 40's in eastern MA along the coastal plain by the afternoon with skies at least becoming partly sunny..especially south of th Pike. Wind advisory for the Cape and islands where SW winds will gust 40-50 from midday through the afternoon. Across northern New England there are more clouds which will help to keep temps cooler today in the 30's and Lwr 40's
SW winds will continue tonight into keeping temperatures comfortable and running above normal for this time of year. Cold Arctic air lurks in Canada with milder air in place in the US. This is forming a boundary and a deck of clouds which is streaming through us today & tonight. Skies will become Mostly sunny Sunday with still active winds from the WSW with gusts over 30 mph. Highs will again be able to climb into the mid 40's across eastern MA ahead of an arctic front which will side off the coast late in the day on Sunday.
I expect an excellent day at Foxboro for the game with sunshine for the tailgate with temps near 45, but also gusty winds. By Kickoff the colder air will be on the move and temps will be dropping down to near freezing. Winds will remain a bit breezy during the game and shift to the NW. Temps will be dropping to near 26-to 28 by the end of the game with windchills in the teens. A cold night...but we have certainly been through worse at Foxboro!
The cold press will continue on Monday with sunshine fading behind increasing clouds. A weak wave of low pressure will be tracking through the mid-Atlantic and off our coastline Tuesday morning as where the storm will become stronger. Light snow is expected to develop across SNE Monday night and become heavier Tuesday morning. The is the potential for a little coastal storm to develop here with an inverted NorLun trough right along the coastline Tuesday morning where we could see a few very localized bands of snow right at the immediate coastline which could deposit upto 3-5 inches if that pans out...away from the coast lighter amounts are expected. There is still plenty of uncertainty with amounts at this point, but models are trending back to a snowier solution so we will be focusing in on this in the coming runs ahead. The NAM & the JMA models have a more significant storm for SE MA...so it certainly bares watching. As this low pulls away, this is where the charge of Arctic Air will really begin!
Tuesday will feature light snow tapering off by afternoon. Highs will only be in the teens and lwr 20's. By Tuesday night with clearing skies and gusty winds skies lows will be dropping to below zero in Northern & Western New England. Boston will see it's overnight low drop to about 0-5 by Wednesday morning. Wind chill advisories may be necessary as most will be feeling below zero. Frigid! With sunshine and high barometer cold coming right from the Arctic circle...highs on Wednesday will be in the mid teens. This will be the coldest air we have seen since January 24th 2011 where we had a high of 13 at Logan airport.
It will be a prolonged cold spell which will hold for the rest of the week. We will have our second chance of snow by Friday. This looks like a much better chance of seeing a real accumulating snow across the region. This will be another more significant wave of low pressure which track from the Ohio valley just south of New England. This will come with more moisture and energy...but the speed and the duration and strength of the storm is still in question. Either way there is the potential of a 3-6" snowfall from that.
This will be a significant cold charge of air, the coldest we have seen in 2 years. Parts of Northern New England will stay below 32 for almost a week! But we also have 2 chances at accumulating snow which we will be watching closely for you. Stay tuned and get ready for some real winter weather finally!
