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Winter Roars Back...

Today was a January gem...and it put the cherry on top of this thaw.  Well don't put away the jacket and gloves just yet, Winter is about to come roaring back.  A coldfront slid through the area this afternoon and temps are now on the decline.  It won't be anything dramatic, in fact, tomorrow's highs will be around 40...which is actually a couple of degrees above normal but still 20 degrees colder than today.  The front delivering us this cold will settle in our coastal waters to our south and become a focal point for small storms to form.  The first one will slide by harmlessly south of us tomorrow morning with just a few drops or flakes for the South Coast of New England but the second promises to be a little more troublesome.

Late tomorrow night and early Wednesday morning, light precip will start to fall over Southern New England.  While the air in place won't be that cold, the air will be dry and when the precip falls into it air temps will start to cool.  This will result in most areas of New England seeing snow.  Closer to the coast and over SE MA it will be more challenging pinning down precip type...and there may be several precip type changes during the course of the event.  Temps in the mid 30s at the start in those areas may mean a bit of rain but as the temp and dewpoint get closer together, resulting in colder surface temps, that rain may change to snow.  Finally, due to the lack of a strong high pressure center to our north and a strengthening low pressure center to our south, as the low gets closer to us winds should turn to the east and a flow of milder marine air will invade the coastline warming things up enough to change back to rain.  Thus, amounts near the coast and over SE MA will be held down to a slushy inch or two or even less.  Inland areas, where the air will be a couple of degrees colder will see 2-4"...just enough to replenish our depleted snowpiles.  The storm will pull away quickly Wednesday afternoon and all the precip will be ending during the early evening.

Following the snow, our weather will be dominated by the northern branch of the jetstream...this will keep larger storms away from us for several days but it will deliver a series of arctic coldfronts that will trigger a flurry with their passage and a blast of cold shortly after.  Winter is back, and it looks like it will hang around for awhile.

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