Friday dawns cold and bright before the clouds catch up to us in the afternoon. But there's something unique about their arrival. They'll come in like a wall of white and gray - a stark, well-defined line approaching in early afternoon. Typically, the advancing line of clouds is frayed and disorganized with an approaching weather system.
Friday, however, it will be very distinct and sharp. Take a gander in the early afternoon.
Behind the clouds, snow will develop well after dark - more toward the midnight hour. A swath will cross New England overnight, but there won't be much to show for it across Southern New England. A coating to 1" at best for most of Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Northern New England is the exception, however. I expect between 2 and 4 inches to fall there.
The warm up is in for the weekend. Few sprinkles are expected on Saturday with dry weather expected for Sunday. Highs both days will be in the mid and upper 40s – with a chance we hit 50 from Brockton to Taunton on Saturday. 30s far north as the warm front gets hung up in Central New England.
Mild temperatures aren’t part of the long term trend, however. Colder air comes down for next week as we watch a weak Monday system slide by and gear up for a potential coastal storm Wednesday.
As it stands now, the storm appears to track far enough offshore to keep the snow in play across most of Southern New England. Might even be enough warm air to switch us to rain on the Cape/Islands.
Northern New England stays all-snow, but the question remains: heavy or light accumulations? Still plenty to work out, so stay tuned.