Watch CBS News

Plowable Snow Coming Saturday To Southern New England

BOSTON (CBS) - With temperatures once again near 50 degrees today, snow is the last thing on many folks minds.

Check: Current Conditions | Weather Map Center | Interactive Radar

We have become accustomed to a mild, bare ground winter in Boston!

While some still wish for snow, most of the comments on our WBZ Weather Facebook page are just the opposite.  It seems that the majority of people have written off this winter and are looking forward to spring.

How quickly we forget.

Last year at this time we had already received more than 71 inches of snow in Boston.

Forget about a lunchtime jog or playing 9 holes on a Friday afternoon, we could barely pull out of our driveways due to the enormous piles of snow!

This year and last have clearly been two extreme winters.

In a normal winter Boston averages about 43 inches of snow for the season and through today's date about 27.

Our current total this winter so far - 7.8 inches.

We will be adding to that on Saturday.  Heck we may even make it to 10 inches in Boston for the season!

Here are the details:

TIMELINE

The storm will begin as snow right around dawn Saturday morning in all inland locations.

Along the immediate coastline, especially the South Coast and Cape and Islands it will start as a rain/snow mix or all rain.

As the precipitation gets heavier, it will transition to all snow everywhere with the exception of the immediate South Coast and Cape where it will take until afternoon before a changeover occurs.

The snow tapers off from west to east late in the afternoon (between 3 and 5 p.m.) and clears the South Shore and Cape last (between 5 and 7 p.m.).

So this will truly be a daytime event, on average from 6-to-8 a.m to 4-to-6 p.m.

AMOUNTS

This storm will be developing and strengthening as it passes by New England, but the key is the track.

It appears as though it will travel a bit farther east than most classic New England snow events.  Therefore, the heaviest of the precipitation will remain offshore.

Parts of southeastern and coastal Massachusetts will be closest to the storm and therefore have the best chance of tapping into some of the heavier moisture.

Our predicted snowfall from Boston to Providence (I-95) and to the southeast is 3-to-6 inches.

However, the immediate South Coast and Cape Cod will only receive 1-to-3 inches of heavy, wet snow because of a rain/snow mix.

Farther north and west of I-95, we are forecasting 1-to-3 inches of snow, a lighter and fluffier consistency due to the air being colder and the distance from the storm's center being greater.

WIND-COAST

This will be a quick moving storm and the core of the heaviest precipitation and strongest winds will remain offshore.

For those reasons, we do not expect there to be any real coastal issues other than some gusty winds in the afternoon.

High tide occurs around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and tides are fairly high astronomically.  But again, we do not expect any significant coastal flooding.

As the storm passes, the winds will increase for our entire area, turning to the north and northwest.

Watch Melissa Mack's forecast:

Late in the afternoon and during the evening they could gust 15-to-30 mph or greater, ushering in some of the coldest air of the season thus far for Sunday and early Monday.

You can follow Terry on Twitter at @TerryWBZ.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.