Old Man Winter Drops Kitchen Sink on Northeast; Sleet + Freezing Rain to South, Shoveling Snow to North!

Good afternoon! Who enjoyed Wednesday’s warm one day wonder? The mercury indeed topped 70F in spots with widespread 60s (a number of records were broken) with a gusty SW wind. But boy did it drop like a rock after sundown. So we all got a taste of spring (a modest warmup next Tues/Wed and possible spike into the upper 60s, dare I say 70°F next weekend), but its back to the harsh reality of winter as I’m sure many weren’t happy out the door this morning. Alright, let’s address the T’s (for those new here, track, type, timing and totals) on our next system impacting the Northeast later tonight into Friday.

I still like my initial thoughts from yesterday’s post on ranges and timing. The track has taken a bit of a northern path, lowering snow totals around the tri-state, yet increasing sleet and ice accumulations. Any and all precip begins overnight for the entire region, from Burlington to Basking Ridge, up to Bristol onto Boston, on up to Bangor, and up to Beckers Corners over to Bennington, north to Brandon and over to Freedom. Bottom line, the Friday morning commute into the afternoon will be horrendous. Let’s break down the same areas I mentioned yesterday and fine tune the details:

For central NJ, the 5 boroughs and Long Island: A mix of snow to sleet and freezing rain (0.10″ to 0.20″) to all rain will limit snow totals of 1-3″, tops. Precip begins Thursday between 10pm and 1am, tapering off between 11am and 1pm Friday. Untreated roads, plus sidewalks, driveways, etc. will be very icy.

NNJ, Hudson Valley, Westchester, CT, RI, plus the “South Coast” of MA: Front-end sleet and freezing rain transitions to all snow, ending as all sleet as a result of a warmer airmass at 5,000 feet pushing north. Snow totals will range between 2-6″, with the higher end of the range in N CT and N RI (North of I84 in NY, 5-8″). South Coast, 3-5″. Precip begins between 12am and 2am, tapering off between 11am and 2pm.

MA up to southern/central VT over to southern/central NH, SE ME: Again this is an all snow event with 8-12″ possible. Heaviest snowfall will be during the early to mid morning hours, creating hazardous driving and near whiteout conditions. Snowfall rates of 1-2″ an hour under banding features are possible. Snow begins between 2-4am Friday, tapering off between 4-7pm.

Saturday morning, we wake up to the sounds of snow blowers and the plows backing up, along with frigid temps (20s across the tri-state, down to the teens and single digits in ski country). With the help of partly sunny skies temps across the Northeast moderate somewhat to the upper 20s in New England to low to mid 30s across the tri-state area. For Sunday, the mercury moderates further into the mid to upper 40s across NJ, NYC and LI, 30s further north with the chance of some snow showers for the skiers in the Dacks, the Greens and Whites. Temps do moderate next week with a few 40s and 50s and possibly another brief spring tease next weekend. But don’t be fooled folks. Details coming but Old Man winter looks like he’ll be lingering and lurking well into March (white clovers?) to possibly April (no April Fools). Stay tuned for March madness, model mayhem and enjoy the brief warm days ahead. Time to hit the pillow in a few after the Rangers game. Just like when I was a kid, knowing it’s going to snow overnight into the next morning turns on my internal alarm clock early! And with that, remember weather never sleeps!