A powerful and large ocean storm southeast of New England is getting a push east and farther away from the region by another incoming disturbance from the west, moving over the Great Lakes.
The departure of the ocean storm meant sharp clearing overnight Monday night for sunshine Tuesday morning and gusts to 30 mph from the north that started the day on Cape Cod dwindle markedly.
By Tuesday afternoon, new clouds will enter the sky of New England, as the disturbance from the Great Lakes continues east, approaching New England. There are two important traits this incoming disturbances has: snow and rain showers over the Great Lakes, and a trail of mild air following it, moving northeast from the Midwest – New England will see both.
The snow, rain and freezing rain showers arrive Tuesday evening from west to east, mostly around and after dinnertime, and fall through midnight, exiting by predawn Wednesday. Although these mixed showers are likely to create some slick spots, the combination of pavement and air temperatures around the melting point will mean even light treatment of the roads should keep them west, with only a coating of snow expected from either side of the MA Pike northward through the Lakes Region of NH.
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In the mountains of northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, one to two inches of fresh snow is expected. The mild air trailing this disturbance will be evident Wednesday with sun emerging and high temperatures nearing 50° in Southern New England and 40s elsewhere with emerging sunshine during the day. The next storm system will be a bit stronger and better organized, but will track from Dallas to Chicago and into Ontario and Quebec, ensuring New England stays on the mild side of the storm with a southeast wind as a result of the counterclockwise flow of air around the storm center…but even on the mild side of the storm, just enough cold air is expected to linger in the northern half of New England for two to five inches of wet snow to fall late Thursday through Thursday night, while Southern New England would be unlikely to see more than some brief wet snow to start on Thursday midday before quickly changing to rain through Thursday night.
Just like Tuesday night’s disturbance, the Thursday storm will drag a tail of mild air behind it, so early showers Friday are expected to give way to breaks of sun between clouds and temperatures in the 50s before cooler air starts a return later Friday into the weekend. Although a shower is still possible Friday night to Saturday morning, at this point it looks like most of New England will avoid the ribbon of moisture with rain showers that stalls over the waters south of Long Island, though it’s close enough we’ll watch for possible showers to enter the forecast near the South Coast Saturday.
Regardless, temperatures will run about five degrees milder than normal over the weekend, regionwide, with snow showers confined to the northern mountains. Next week, our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast shows another return of mild air with high temperatures in the 40s and 50s for the middle part of the week.
