After some very mild storm systems, New England will be reverting back to a much more January-like pattern for this entire week. This means colder temperatures and a couple chances for snow. Here's the details:
MONDAY
The week will start off on a blissfully quiet note weather-wise for New England as high pressure builds to New England's south. This will bring a mostly sunny to partly cloudy day with lighter winds. Monday, along with the whole week will be colder and much more January-like than it has been for New England. Highs will be in the low 20s north to low 30s south.
An arctic blast of air has dropped into the center of the country. New England will be sitting on the periphery of this air mass, leading to more seasonable weather for us, in the 20s and 30s for highs. This air mass will likely shift east toward the end of the week, but there will be more on that in the weekend section.
TUESDAY
Over the past 24 hours or so, the trends on Tuesday's nor'easter have shifted the storm further north and west, closer to New England. This grows confidence in accumulating snow for much of New England.
Overall, the snowfall still appears to be on the lighter side, with the exception of eastern Maine, where more moderate snow will be possible. Snow will likely break out from southwest to northeast starting around midnight Tuesday. By daybreak Tuesday, snow showers will likely have overspread most of New England.
Expected weather around 8am Tuesday:
With a track closer to New England, it could introduce more mild air into the storm for areas of eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This could introduce a mix with freezing rain and rain by Tuesday morning. This is most likely in the Boston to Providence corridor. For everyone else, this will be an all snow event.
Snow will continue through much of Tuesday for New England. The snow will likely gradually begin to taper off from west to east in the mid to late afternoon for most of New England, with eastern Maine remaining in the snow through the first half of Tuesday night. The storm will be strengthening as it moves into Eastern Maine.
Expected weather in the early afternoon (1st image) and in the evening (2nd image):
At this time, it doesn't look like more intense snow bands will set up across New England, so there likely won't be drastically different totals from one town to the next. Much of New England will likely see around 2-5 inches of snow. This is a one-dimensional storm with wind, rain and coastal flooding all non-factors.
The most snow is looking to fall across eastern Maine as the storm strengthens. This area will have the best shot at a half foot or more. Winds will be gustier in this area as well. This will be a light, fluffy snow that can pile up rather quickly, so we'll need to watch for any slightly higher amounts across New England. The light, fluffy snow will be able to blow around very easily, which may reduce visibility in eastern Maine.
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY
High pressure builds into the southern United States for this time frame, but its influence should reach New England, allowing for two days very similar to Monday with partly cloudy skies and quiet weather. It will likely be a notch colder than Monday, with highs in the teens across the northern tier with 20s and 30s working into central and southern New England.
Weather map for Wednesday showing expansive high pressure in the south as Tuesday's storm pulls away:
FRIDAY
Friday will provide New England's next storm chance. A storm system will likely form off the Mid-Atlantic coast and travel offshore of New England sometime Friday afternoon or night. This track once again puts New England on the cold side of the storm, allowing for frozen precipitation This storm will likely be stronger than the Tuesday storm, but is also currently forecast to track further away, leading to lighter snowfall from a glancing blow.
As always, we need to watch the trends this week as the Tuesday storm was looking to pass well offshore before trending back closer to New England. With a stronger storm, this one will be able to drop several inches of snow given a favorable track.
With a track well to New England's south, it would be southern New England that stands the best chance at seeing accumulating snowfall from this system. As for potential snowfall amounts and the northern extent of snow, we'll just need to keep watching at this point. A key to this will be just how fast the storm can strengthen. A blast of cold air will be trying to work into New England for the weekend. This colder air could provide some fuel for strengthening.
WEEKEND
The big weather story for this weekend will be the arrival of much colder air into New England. The arctic air mass that has entered the center of the country will begin to shift eastward at the end of this week. The air mass will modify as it works into New England, so it likely won't get truly frigid (highs in the single digits or below zero) like in the midwest.
With that said, the coldest air of the season will likely be arriving for Saturday with widespread highs possibly in the teens to low 20s across all of New England. We'll also see our first chance for widespread sub-zero wind chills Saturday morning. Overnight lows may drop to the single digits, on either side of zero.
BEYOND
In our January weather outlook, we mentioned that cold shots of air may not last very long this month. Early indications show that this will be the case as temperatures are favored to return to above average conditions at the start of next week.
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