A cold front that moved into New England Thursday with areas of snow has stalled, after delivering cold air the the region. This front - a divider between arctic air to the north and less cold air to the south, is expected to remain stalled over Southern and Central New England through the weekend, into early next week. Fronts like this can be big trouble-makers - we know the basic tenet of meteorology, that cold and warm air colliding makes clouds, makes precipitation, and makes storms. As energetic disturbances move over New England aloft, this will focus a warm/cold clash, time and again, over New England, with heaviest snow generated on the north side of the stalled out frontal boundary - in this case, Central New England. When all is said and done from Saturday (light snow showers), Sunday (areas of snow), Monday and Monday night into early Tuesday morning (heavier snow), snow totals will be significant for much of New England - it's worth noting, these total numbers encompass several days, so you increase inherent uncertainty and variability the farther out you go. Try not to take the little curves, nooks and crannies too seriously (like Southeast NH, the northward hook of snowfall in immediate Boston area, etc.) - and rather, take this as the general pattern and rough, early total estimates to give you an idea of how much snow you're going to need to push around, all tolled:
I thought it might be helpful to break the muti-day event into day-by-day accumulation forecasts...you may notice the amounts do not add up to the totals above in all instances (adds up to less in some areas) - why?? Because I expect more snow to fall Monday night into early Tuesday morning, which is not included in the Monday accumulation map.
Saturday features midday, afternoon and evening snow showers, but of relatively little consequence:
Very late Saturday night/predawn Sunday, a pulse of widespread snow likely will impact New England, and as the morning progresses Sunday into midday, the southern edge of the snow will contract northward, focusing on most of Vermont, New Hampshire, some of Maine and Northern Massachusetts, producing these snowfall amounts Sunday:
Monday likely brings the heaviest burst of snow for New England, particularly during the afternoon into the night, delivering some of the highest amounts of the multi-day event for Southern New England:
Again, more snow is expected Monday night into Tuesday early morning, which is why the total amounts at the top total higher than if you add each map up. I expect snow to end early Tuesday morning, a quiet Wednesday, and then perhaps another round Thursday before arctic cold - but drier - air arrives.
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I hope this helps to break down the weekend and start of next week for you!
Matt
