The storm’s gone. The winds, cold, & blowing snow have eased. What is being called “The Blizzard of 2010” is now history, though it was certainly not a blizzard, by definition, everywhere. In  Boston, it was. Areas further south especially along the coast saw some mixing and rain, which cut down snow amounts, and obviously took away from true blizzard conditions. Snowfall amounts in Greater Boston were generally 10 to 19 inches, with the higher amounts of 18.2 inches and 19.2 inches reported at Boston and Saugus, respectively. Here in Woburn, I recorded 15.5 inches of snow, which melted down to 1.30 inch of precipitation.

Tuesday was a windy & cold but very bright & sunny day. This has set the stage for a stretch of quiet weather to close out 2010. The final 3 days of the calendar year will feature sun & clouds along with a trend toward milder temperatures. Thursday & Friday should see high temperatures exceeding 40. As we get to First Night, the temperature in Boston may still be near 40 early, coasting into the 30s later, but certainly not as cold as it can be and has been. The weather will be favorable with no rain or snow, and generally light wind.

The first day of 2011 on Saturday is expected to be mostly sunny & mild as a ridge of high pressure builds right over us. We could see a high temperature of 50 or even slightly over, despite snowcover, which tends to temper warmups.

The next chance of precipitation will come in the form of rain showers as a cold front crosses the region on Sunday.

Tomorrow, we’ll look into next week to see if the milder weather pattern will last, or is only temporary.

Enjoy these few days of more pleasant early winter weather! But be alert if you are out in the early morning hours for icy patches as melting snow refreezes overnight.