A sharp cold front is slicing from northwest to southeast across New England on our Friday and already has started a new flow of cold air across the Canadian border into Northern New England on an increasing northwest wind.
In fact, the North Country has seen some snow showers with the arrival of the new air, though outside of the North Country and New England’s mountains, the air is expected to be too dry for rain or snow showers with the passage of the cold front and temperatures ahead of the front will reach seasonable highs in the middle to upper 40s.
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What certainly will be perceptible is the change of air that comes with the front: an increasing wind from the northwest will indicate the cold front – the leading edge of the new air – has passed your location, and that new wind will result in falling temperatures and the onset of a wintry wind chill. In fact, by suppertime Friday evening, all of New England will find wind chill values in the 20s or colder – a stark difference from most of the day!
As cold air continues to pour south into New England Friday night, low temperatures will drop to the teens and a steady northwest breeze at 5-15 mph will drop wind chill values into the single digits to lower teens. The winter coat, hat and gloves will continue to come in handy all day Saturday with temperatures held to the 30s and even just a few light breeze sufficient to keep wind chill values closer to 30 degrees at the warmest time of day as sun fades behind a veil of afternoon clouds.
While this shot of wintry cold will be brief, our First Alert Team sees signals we are far from done with chilly air, as most of next week appears colder-than-normal to our meteorologists. That said, this current shot of cold air Saturday will retreat for about 36 hours Sunday into Monday, with Sunday morning sunshine fading behind increasing clouds as temperatures rise into the 40s, setting the stage for rain, not snow, Sunday night across most of New England.
The exception to a wet scenario will be in the northern mountains and North Country of New England, where enough cold air holds on Sunday night into Monday for two to as much as six inches of mountain snow, though deeper valleys like the Champlain Valley may be hard-pressed to see much snow. For the rest of New England, half an inch to an inch of rain will fall, lasting through Monday morning to slow the morning commute for some, though exact end timing is still TBD.
Regardless, Monday afternoon should be drier with just the chance of passing showers and lingering air mild enough for highs around 50 degrees before a new cold front arrives Monday evening and brings a return of colder-than-normal air that will be longer lasting, persisting for the better part of the next two weeks! While that doesn’t mean everyday will be equally cold, it does mean the weather pattern will be cool enough that our First Alert Team will remain on-guard for possible wintry storms that could involve either snow or rain.
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As New England sits north of the fast, storm-steering jet stream winds aloft, we’ll be in cool air…and close enough to jet stream disturbances that we’ll be vulnerable to storms if southern moisture and northern energy can merge at any point. While that’s unlikely most of next week, it’s possible next weekend, then there are a couple more chances the following week, so we’ll be keeping close watch and keeping you posted.
