Update on Snowstorm

Complex and powerful nor'easter will impact the area over the next 24 hours. Unique set up with extremely cold surface temperatures and a persistant NE wind direction over the warm ocean created  strong ocean effect snow bands over Essex and eastern Middlesex counties earlier. Some areas already reported 20 inches of accumulation! The area of best ocean effect banding is now over Plymouth county.


Main storm center has formed off the Mid-Atlantic coast and will rapidly intensify as it moves to the north east. This will be a relatively progressive storm and the track will keep the heaviest effects offshore. Nevertheless, the extremely cold temperatures will create impressive snowfall ratios, on the order of 15:1 or above. Anywhere from 0.4 to 1 inch of precipitation will fall, resulting in widespread 14-18 inch snowfall totals with 24+ inches likely in areas of heavy ocean effect banding. Extreme temperature gradient between the surface and the ocean combined with the northeast wind direction will result in strong ocean effect banding.


Winds from the northeast will increase later, gusting to 45 mph in coastal areas and from 15-25 mph everywhere else. Coastal flooding concerns for coastal Essex county and along the South Shore, specifically with the Friday noon high tide. Light nature of the snow will make it easy for wind driven snow to create blizzard conditions.


Most snow should be over by the early afternoon on Friday. Behind it, extremely cold air will rush into all of New England. Friday night and Saturday morning lows are likely to shatter records all around the area. Much of Massachusetts will be several degrees below 0, even in metro areas such as Boston. Breezy NW winds will create wind chill values of -25 and below! This type of cold is life threatening as hypothermia can set in quickly. No doubt, this will be one of the coldest air masses that New England has seen in decades.


Temperatures will moderate on the weekend. Another system will approach the region late Sunday into Monday. A storm track to the west will keep us on the warm and rainy side of the event. Some freezing rain is definitely a possibility for interior areas, especially at the onset of the storm.