Well Saturday morning’s snow failed to live up to expectation. Storm totals were disappointing everywhere, even southeast Mass, Rhode Island, and the upper Cape, where 4-6″ of snow fell.
No time to dwell on a missed forecast as the regions next chance at snow comes tonight. A real quick thump of heavy wet snow is in store overnight.
Snow moves in from southwest to northeast during the evening hours. Approximate start time for snowflakes below, courtesy of the National Weather Service in Norton, MA.
via NWS Boston
This system is moving so quickly that it is in and out of the area by 7 am Monday morning. But the commute is still likely impacted as cleanup will be on-going.
The forecast loop below starts 7 pm Sunday and ends 7 am Monday.
7 pm Sunday -> 7 am Monday – Tropical Tidbits
Even though it only snows for a short period, 8-10 hrs, in most locations, when it does snow it will come down quite quickly. Snowfall rates 1-2″ per hour are expected, particularly across eastern areas.
SNOWFALL
Sunday Night Snowfall
Well what a difference 24 hours can make…….almost immediately following my post yesterday, the system for Saturday morning started trending north. It now looks like the system will pass close enough to the region to deliver a period of snowfall starting overnight Friday and extending until around noon on Saturday.
The higher snow amounts will be confined to south and east portions of Southern New England where precipitation will fall heavy enough to overcome the March sun angle.
2 am Saturday -> 2 am Sunday – Pivotal Weather
Saturday Morning Snowfall
Saturday Morning Snowfall
Saturday afternoon could feature lingering snow flurries, but generally from about 1 pm Saturday on will be quiet and a break in the weather. Sunday evening, things head downhill again as another storm system approaches from the southwest. The exact track of the system is undetermined at the moment, but will have a major say in the final outcome as the rain/snow line will be in play.
At current, I am favoring a track over the Islands/Outer Cape, which will push the rain/snow line into Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island; perhaps as far northwest as Boston.
This system has a lot of moisture associated with it. A widespread inch of liquid precipitation for most will fall. Which means for those places that stay all snow, upwards of 12″ of snow is possible.
2 pm Sunday -> 2 pm Monday – Pivotal Weather
Sunday Night -> Monday Snowfall
Sunday Night -> Monday Snow
After a rather quite winter to date, it seems we are going to try to make up for it quickly.
-Chris
Chris Hampton Weather 