Weather

Subzero Wind Chill for Some This Weekend

Cold Canadian air Saturday and Sunday

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We’re on the cusp of a mighty cold weekend – perhaps not cold by usual January standards in New England, but biting cold by THIS January’s standards in New England! 

Canadian air spilling in on a northwest wind will hold temperatures shy of 30 degrees for most of the weekend, and that same steady northwest wind will suppress wind chill values below 20 for everyone. 

Before the cold air arrives, though, Friday brings a respite in the chill harkening back to the start of the week with temperatures rising to over 40 degrees and a light wind making the day feel noticeably milder than the past couple of days, especially when sunshine makes an appearance between clouds through early afternoon. 

From early afternoon onward, the transition toward colder air will begin and clouds will fill the sky with scattered rain and snow showers moving from the mountains and hills, where they’ll already be ongoing, all the way to the coast, remaining scattered. 

Of course, Worcester saw in Thursday’s snow showers that roads can become coated and slippery in some of these, though Friday’s milder temperatures mean probably only the hilly terrain of central Massachusetts, northern and western New England would need to worry about that.  

Friday night, the new air from Canada arrives with an increasing wind, partly cloudy skies and occasional flurries drifting across New England into early Saturday morning. 

Saturday will bring a blend of sun and clouds south and lots of clouds north with some North Country flurries, but as mentioned, the cold and wind chill will be the story and means all New Englanders will need the cold weather gear for time outside. 

This Canadian air is dry air, so we aren’t expecting much aside from North Country flurries, and Sunday should deliver plenty of sun, though the wind and cold persist with summit gusts to 45 or 50 mph likely meaning some summit chairlift holds at ski areas Sunday morning. 

Cool and dry weather persists into Monday, though the wind abates somewhat ahead of the next storm. Developing over the central United States and moving east, this storm mostly passes south of New England on Tuesday, but a separate disturbance moving overhead at the same time the storm passes to our south may be able to pull some snow showers or light snow into parts of southern New England, so our First Alert Team will watch this carefully. 

Thereafter, we see relatively cold air – slightly colder-than-normal – lingering through the week, eventually easing by next weekend when another chance of rain or snow enters the forecast by next Sunday... something to watch but still very far out in time.

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