forecast

Spring Storm Could Drop Half a Foot of Snow in Parts of New England

In about a 12 hour time-frame, the weather will turn from cold and snowy Saturday to a sunny and 60 degree Sunday.

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It’s strange to consider, but also not unheard of for New England: sunscreen Friday, accumulating snow Friday night to Saturday, splendid Sunday. This time of the year, temperature is dependent heavily on two things: amount of sunshine and wind direction. 

Friday, a busy wind from the southwest is exacerbating an already high to very high brush fire danger owing to quick drying of last year’s dead vegetation on forest and field floor from abundant sunshine. With dry air and the busy wind, maple and elm pollen continue to burst from the trees, aggravating allergic reactions for those with seasonal pollen allergies. 

Finally, that strong sun is delivering a high UV Index, meaning sunscreen is a good idea for anyone spending a chunk of time outside. In somewhat classic New England fashion, we’ll trade in pollen, brush fire danger and sunscreen for snow shovels in about a 12-hour timeframe. 

The next storm system moving east from the Midwest dropped snow on Chicago Friday morning and will arrive to New England between 10 p.m. and midnight Friday night for most of Southern New England, starting as rain or a combination of rain and snow, but transitioning to snow between midnight and 3 a.m., expanding north into central Vermont, New Hampshire and southern Maine but never reaching the North Country. 

Although temperatures will remain near or even slightly above freezing, the snowfall intensity will increase enough to accumulate between two and four inches for many, with higher amounts in higher terrain. For spots that hit five or six inches, an isolated power outage is possible Saturday morning, and for those spots with greater than two inches, roads may develop some slick spots. 

Because the spring sun angle is so strong, even just the effect of sun through clouds will cap accumulations by about 8 or 9 a.m. Saturday, leaving nuisance flakes and raindrops behind through about midday, with breaks of sun very stubborn to move from north to south across New England late in the day and evening. 

By Sunday, the job will be done – skies will be sunny and a busy southwest breeze will blow mild air into New England, allowing for highs in the 60s for an incredible turnaround from Saturday’s clammy feeling gloom. 

An ocean storm develops south of New England Monday, but should be close enough to deliver some showers, particularly to southern and eastern New England, with another disturbance traversing the New England sky late Tuesday into Tuesday night, with a few more showers.

In fact, with another storm threatening rain at week’s end next week, our First Alert Team can’t say our exclusive 10-day forecast is the brightest or best we’ve delivered, but we do expect most of next week to feature daytime high temperatures at or over 50 degrees, and perhaps around or over 60 on a few days.

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