Winter Returns...
Today was the first day of Winter yet Pittsfield, MA with a high of 49 degrees was the only official site to not record a high in the 50s today. That's impressive and the last time we see that kind of warmth this year. The pattern is shifting into a more classic Winter one with cold and potential snow.
A large swirling storm is still spinning over the Northeast. This storm is reaching up into central Canada, the cold from there is being driven south into the Northeast as winds swing around to the west and then northwest over the weekend. High will be closer to normal...in the 30s. The sky will also be shrouded in clouds...with an unstable atmosphere, clouds will form quickly tomorrow and fan out across the sky...there will also be numerous snow showers falling across the mountainous terrain of Western New England and with gusty west winds some of the flakes may blow across the State to Eastern MA too!
That won't be the only chance to see snow by Christmas...models are coming into better agreement with a weak storm system on Christmas morning traveling through the Mid-Atlantic with a round of mostly light snow. We will be on the northern side of the storm so a grazing of snow showers and maybe even a steady period of snow south of the Mass Pike is looking likely now...we may actually wake up to some white after all!
The active pattern will look to continue middle of next week as an active southern jetstream kick up a very juicy storm out of the Gulf of Mexico and ejects it up the East Coast and a Nor'easter. There should be enough cold air around to work with and the potential is there for a sizable snowstorm here in the Northeast.
To all, have a very happy holiday season and a Merry Christmas!
