WBZ-TV Weather Alert: Damaging Wind Gusts Then Accumulating Snow

BOSTON (CBS) - Winter is not done yet. Although we got an early taste of Spring, March on average sees just over 7 inches of snow in Boston. So I hope you didn't put the shovels and snow blowers away just yet.

Read: What Is A Storm Watch Weather Alert?

Let's chat briefly about Thursday first.

The wind is the main story. Gusts out of the west up to 60 mph will result in isolated pockets of damage and outages and will create wind chill values in the upper 20's to middle 30's.

If it weren't going to be windy today – it'd actually be a nice afternoon with mostly sunny skies and highs 45 to 50 for many of us.

Tonight the clouds thicken and during the pre-dawn hours Friday the snow will arrive.

Here are the details:

TIMING

Snow arrives between 2 and 4 a.m. along and south of the Massachusetts Turnpike, and moves north slowly towards the New Hampshire border between 4 and 7 a.m.

This is a quick hitting disturbance, so the snow will taper from north to south by midday to mid-afternoon, with just some leftover snow showers through late afternoon.

AMOUNTS

There is going to be a pretty sharp cutoff on the northern fringe of this storm.

Expect a coating to 1 inch or so north of Boston to the New Hampshire border; 1-to-3 inches around the Pike points south and then 3-to- inches from Plymouth to Cape Cod.

IMPACTS

Our Friday morning commute will be impacted the most, with a brief period of 1-to-2 inches per hour snowfall rates along the South Coast.

Visibility will be reduced to one mile or less at times; snow covered roads and dangerous travel will result.

ARTIC BLAST

Get ready for another frigid weekend.

Record cold high and low temperatures will be challenged.

Wind chill values will be in the single digits and teens on Saturday and only slightly better on Sunday.

Saturday night is when the core of the arctic air comes overhead. Wind chill advisories may be needed as the real feel values drop to 5-to-15 BELOW zero Saturday night.