Thursday began with snow and the flurries and sprinkles lingered through the afternoon thanks to daytime heating that created instability.
After sunset, the clouds and precipitation will disappear and the sky clears. Overnight lows drop to the 20s north and 30s south.
Friday afternoon our highs reach the upper 40s to low 50s with increasing clouds. Upslope snow will develop again across the mountains on a northwest wind by afternoon. Our next system is moving through the central Plains and will arrive Friday night.
Snow showers drive west to east across central and southern New England just after midnight and will last through dawn Saturday. There is enough energy to set down a few inches of accumulation.
However, there are a few issues. One, the wind will be more southwest to begin with, keeping temperatures from dipping too far below freezing.
Another issue is that Friday afternoon temperatures will be in the low 50s and by Saturday afternoon we warm to the mid-40s with a northeast wind.
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So mild air on either side of this storm will prevent the snow from really accumulating like a late winter storm. Plus anything that falls will compact with a snow ratio of 8:1 or less.
We still could see a coating to 2 inches of snow from Providence to Hartford to Boston. In higher elevations where we expect 2-5 inches of wet and heavy snow, there may be some damage or outages. This would be across the Worcester Hills, Berkshires and the southern Green Mountains.
The roads may be slick for a short time Saturday morning, but any snow that accumulates there will melt after sunrise. Most of this snowfall will be across grassy areas, parked cars, trees and porches.
By Sunday our temperatures jump into the low 60s with a breeze. A coastal low is expected to track south of us Monday.
A cold front Sunday night will bring rain through, and will also help to carry this storm out to sea by Monday, though the track could still change at this point. We remain unsettled next week with temperatures in the 50s throughout the 10-day forecast.
