Cold Then Snow

We might get over 30 degrees today, but then temps are in a for a steep decline. Wednesday's high temp will be in the mid-teens and then we go down from there. Everyone wants to know if there will be freeze delays on Thursday. The short answer is...unlikely. 

A few days ago we were expecting temps in the -10 to -15 range for Thursday morning, but the forecast is warmer now. We will "only" drop into the negative single digits. But if there is little cloud coverage and radiational cooling occurs, we could go lower then the expected -4 to -7 degrees. The absence of wind and thus really low wind chill values means that delays, if any, will be more the exception than the rule.

Then, of course, the other big weather story is an impending coastal "bomb" of a low pressure system for the weekend. There is a lot of excitement about this storm, especially from the Weather Twitterati, but it is far from a sure thing. 

The Euro has been the most consistent run to run and is also presenting the most encouraging snow forecast. The American model spares the Berkshires a major hit but gives eastern New England a good thump of snow and even possible blizzard watches and warnings. The timing would be late Friday night and all day Saturday.

Snow accumulations by midnight on Saturday, according to the Euro. You can understand why some folks are losing their minds on this one.

This is not a forecast, but a meteorologist we like named Bernie Rayno is expecting at least 6 inches for all New England, with some places in central and southeast NE getting 2 feet of snow. He, too, cautions about reading too much into the surface maps of one model, but a plowable snow event is something we might have to contend with on Saturday. We're really hoping it's the storm that ensures snow-covered ground until late February.

Much, much more to follow.