Quick Update

225 Comments

7:37AM

SUMMARY…
No major changes to the discussion on the previous post. Full discussion on next update.

SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND FORECAST…
TODAY: Sunny morning. Increasing clouds afternoon. Chance of light rain north and west of Boston late. Highs 40-45 South Coast, 45-50 elsewhere. Wind light W shifting to S.
TONIGHT: Cloudy. Periods of light rain. Lows 35-40 early then rising. Wind light SE shifting to SW late.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy. Isolated rain showers morning. Scattered to numerous rain showers afternoon. Highs in the 50s except 40s South Coast / Cape Cod. Wind S to SW 10-20 MPH with higher gusts.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy to partly sunny. Rain showers early. Low 45. High 50.
SATURDAY: Partly sunny. Low 30. High 40.
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 20. High 45.
MONDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow/mix showers. Low 25. High 35.
TUESDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of snow/rain/showers. Low 30. High 45.

225 thoughts on “Quick Update”

  4. Thank you Tk and good morning.

    Something is cooking both down the road and for this Saturday.
    Gfs shows “some” snow, while the CMC wants to drop 4-6 inches on us.
    Look I know we can’t trust that model, but something is cooking.

    Watch out for this Saturday.

    Down the road, the models have been on again/off again, but something is up
    for around the 3rd and/or the 4th.

    1. March is sneaky. I think Saturday will deliver a sneaky package of mixed precipitation to Boston and vicinity. It’s going to be quite cold this weekend as well, but not as cold as it’s been. I think our nights in the teens are over for the season, but days over 50F will be few and far between for a while.

      1. March IS sneaky and although not as often, there are occasions
        when April can be very sneaky as well. Not that we very often see
        BIG April snows (Although they can happen), but fairly regularly we see nuisance to moderate snowfalls. You know an inch or 2 or 3 up to 4 or 5 inches.

  7. Even the overnight construction on highways has begun again, it’s been 3 in a half months, even they know winters over 🙂 be happy folks it’s happy spring 🙂

  8. April 1982 comes to mind for a good size April snowstorm and April Fools storm of 97 that started on the 31st of March and went into the 1st day of April.
    Its a low chance in my mind for a good size snow event in April but its not zero.

  10. From Upton, NY Fri Night into Saturday.

    CAA FRI NIGHT INTO SAT SHOULD ALLOW PRECIP TO MIX WITH/CHANGE TO
    SNOW SHOWERS FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING…AND THEN A
    RAIN/SNOW MIX ON SATURDAY. TEMPS ON SATURDAY WILL LIKELY RUN ABOUT
    10 TO 15 DEGREES BELOW SEASONABLE UNDER THE UPPER TROUGH AND COLD
    POOL.

  11. Chances of significant snow are dwindling fast for Southern New England. High temperatures the next couple weeks will vary between the low, mid and upper 50s for southern New England, with a few 40s here and there like this weekend. Can’t rule out a little snow overnight in that timeframe, but all would be melted shortly after. Love the Sun this time of year!

  12. Old salty no disrespect but we do not at All get that amount of snow regularly in April and we are lucky if April brings any snow.

    1. And how does Boston arrive at that average?
      They receive SNOW fairly regularly, else the average would be
      damn near zero!

      1. Average skewed SLIGHTLY by the anomalous big storms but Boston averages about 1 measurable snow day in April.

    1. PS – This particular source goes back to 1920. Less than 100 years ago. How’s THAT for a blip on the radar.

    2. Thank you DS. You’re making my point

      And btw, IF you look at the suburbs and even more regular.

    3. Thanks DS for those stats. I would say we are probably due for something at least in moderate amounts. Btw, the average April snowfall for Logan is 2.0″.

      And yet the average for Logan in November is 1.3″…interesting!

      1. Tells me it is MORE likely to snow in April than it is in
        November. Also, Ocean MUCH colder in early April, than
        anytime in November. 😀

  16. Boston has seen snow (at least .10 inches) just about HALF of the years since 1920. That may not seem like much, but guess what – it’s recordable, measurable snow. Interpret that how you will. I would call it “regularly”. And as OS pointed out, that is at LOGAN, I believe (when did they start keeping records there??). And we know how tight that gradient generally is.

  18. If it snows say every few years in April how is that April gets snow in April
    Regularly , am I missing somthing . Not to confuse but the words were it snows regularly in April. If sombody wete to see that they interpret it as it snows every April and it does not. Just saying.

      1. Here’s one definition from Merriam-Webster: happening at times that are equally separated.

        I guess roughly one out of every two years might MIGHT qualify….But who am I to say.

      2. To be fair, we have gone years without seeing snow in April. The same could be said of snowfall in November. The same could be said of above average or below average temps, snowfall, rainfall, etc.

        Sometimes if has snowed two or three Aprils in a row. I bet at the end of that third year some people would call it a “regular” occurrence.

        It’s all semantics, really. But let’s not go around saying that it doesn’t snow in April. Because that is absolutely incorrect.

  24. The semantics on this blog can be very much a turn off and we all know who the two culprits of this incendiary behavior are. I very much appreciate and have learned from the many passionate and knowledgeable folks on this blog and look forward to doing so in the years to come. It’s almost time for me to disappear until the fall, but I think we’ll have a few more watchers as he head into April.

    1. If it’s in regard to me saying I don’t think it snows regularly in April I’m not sure I understand . I said I respectfully did not agree. It does seem like opinions here can go either way.

      1. I did understand what you were saying, John. You are right that it’s NOT a regular occurrence. It happens for sure, as DS points out, but certainly not every year. If we did have accumulating snow regularly in April the average snowfall for April would not be 1 inch.

        1. Agree it does not on a regular basis and that was my point and it could not have been more clear. I don’t think that comment was for me I sure hope not.

    2. Every year I say I’ll disappear until late fall, and then reappear. But, my drive to follow weather diminishes somewhat as we hit April.

      Semantics aside regarding April snow, clearly, it can happen and has, as DS pointed out with an interesting table. Accumulating snow in April is not a typical phenomenon in Boston. But, the threat exists because the pool of cold air coming out of Canada is really not that far away. Should the conditions be just right, we can have significant snowfall in April. I’ve seen it plenty of times. Also, it’s important to note that the mountains of New England (>3000 feet) almost every year get several heavy snowfalls in April. The Mt. Washington region (Presidential range) often records heavy snowfalls in early to mid May as well. I’ve climbed there in May and been caught in a near-blizzard with temps in the mid 20s at Hermit Lake Shelter (4000 feet in elevation). Needless to say, I turned back.

  27. So I guess the bottom line is it can snow in April, but it usually doesn’t. It can also be 80 degrees. I’ll play the odds, The last time I remember a snow event in April was 96, in southern New England Aprils are mostly known for mix of warmer and cooler temps with a mix of drizzle and low clouds, mixed with a sea breeze.

    2. As they say in Jamaica “Alligator lay egg, but him now fowl” You must know what that means Charlie since you were there recently.

  28. I feel like the blog goes through every March and April, a crash after the high, and this time of year is the crash, while the rest of us are enjoying the mild temps and rooting for summer, enjoy the weather 🙂

    1. I still want to know what “mild” temperatures you are talking about. To date, this has been the coldest March since 1934. What mild temperatures?

    2. Actually what it goes through every year is you repeating over and over that Spring is here. We actually know that Spring is here. It’s not Winter anymore. But there isn’t a magic line where it just stops doing anything. It’s significantly climate-driven, of course, time of year. But it’s also pattern-driven. In March 2012 you were not going to get it to snow around here when we were setting record high temps left and right with a ridge in place. In March 2013 we couldn’t get it to stop snowing. Of course it hardly snows in April compared to March. And you can play the odds if you like. You run an outside business that depends on weather conditions. I get that. But speaking for myself, as a meteorologist, a scientist, and a specialist in agricultural impacts from weather, I know better than to just say “it’s over” without science to back it up. That’s just how it works.

      But is it Spring? YES, absolutely. The Vernal Equinox occurred last week. It just can snow in Spring, just as it can snow in Autumn, and rain in Winter. Good day sir. 🙂

  30. We had Groundhog Day snow, Valentines Day snow, why not Easter snow? Paint those eggs vibrant colors if you wanna hide them outside if that is going to take place. 😉

  32. If you want to talk about April snow, the big 3 are 1982, 1987, and 1997. The 1987 event was more inland than coast (which had much less).

    The “big” events in April are indeed rare. What is not rare are 1 or 2 days of measurable snow even in Boston during April, usually the first half of the month. It’s called: “spring snow”. 🙂

  33. I guess I just don’t see things the same way some others here do.

    But, NO ONE here is going to tell me that it does NOT routinely snow in April around here. Every year? Nope, but often enough to know it can and WILL happen. Growing up it snowed almost every April, screwing up baseball, golf and fishing. BIG storms, nah those are pretty rare, but often, like I said way above, an inch or 2 and sometimes
    3, 4 or 5 inches.

    Beginning to look like TOM was right on with his analysis about this Saturday with
    something happening with the trailing cold front. Great job Tom!

    Re: Easter Weekend.
    Something appears to be cooking for that time period. Nothing etched in stone
    as it is way too early, but definite signs that something may happen in that time
    period, 4/2-4/5.

  34. As I said yesterday I never woke up to snow on the ground Easter morning so will this be the year. I have woken up to White Halloween, White Thanksgiving, and White Christmas.

  35. BTW,

    Was out at lunch, in fact was at home. Temp at 12:30PM was 46.
    WHOLE LOT OF MELTING going on.

    Coming back to the office, some ball fields were showing MUCH bare ground.
    Here near the office in Roxbury, snow cover in the Sunny areas is fading fast and
    very thin with many, many large bare spots. Shady areas is a different story.

  36. Not sure if anyone saw on Terry’s blog from BZ yesterday but BB is indicating well below average temps throughout the summer into next winter.

  38. Oh yes I did not mention as someone did above it did snow in April 1996 too, but for Boston it was several smaller events versus one big one. We had a couple moderate events here in the suburbs.

    1. I believe the Red Sox postponed a game due to snow in April 1996.

      Btw, cooler today than I expected. Certainly warmer than it’s been. It got to 43F, but has cooled here in Boston (I’m near the water). I’m curious about tomorrow. My guess is no warmer than 53F. We’ll see. I really do think the high temps on, say, weather.com, have been a bit too high lately.

  39. Well I see we are all in our happy place again 🙂

    I had to read twice to see what the brewhaha was about. I know it isn’t a brewhaha. I just wanted to use the word.

    My take is…He who shall not be named said there are occasions when April can be a sneaky month. (No peaking now to see who said that.) Our official fact checker….I cannot disclose the name but the initials are DS…..Did considerable research to show that, in fact, April can be a sneaky month.

    As such, the Brand new V award for accurate statement of the day goes to “he who shall not be named”. (Still no peaking as the award is given anonymously). Congratulations for being the very first Vinner

      1. Shhhhhhhh. I can’t tell you the name but the initials as OS 🙂

        And I heartily agree with that persons comments !

    2. WHW is a collection of people, each with different tastes and preferences, each with a different attitude, and each with a different set of weather skills. All of us (myself definitely included) have at one time been guilty of overreacting to another person on the blog, or saying something offensive or gratuitous. That’s fine so long as none of us feel self-righteous. As Christ said: “Let Him Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone.” It is one of many brilliant statements Christ uttered. Particularly pertinent this time of year as we approach the holiest week on the Christian calendar, and the very important Jewish holiday of Passover. I’m not a religious person. However, religious ethics have played an important role in my upbringing as well as my children’s, especially in shaping how to be civil and tolerant towards one another.

      1. Couldn’t agree more. Are you looking for a second place V award. I can create one you know 🙂

  40. Hello All. Just got to Fort Myers and will be going to Jet Blue stadium tomorrow to see the Sox against the Twins.

    Temp 86, wind 5 MPH, humidity 40%, some clouds.

    4. I heard several folks on the radio this am discussing working at jet blue stadium. They were all retirees from this area. They absolutely love working there and meeting the many folks from this area who, like you, who go to the spring training games. Enjoy. I know you will .

  41. Hmmm this tweet makes me wonder if it gets interesting this evening????
    Just enough cold air to provide some frozen precipitation early on????

    Gil Simmons NEWS8 CT retweeted
    Catherine ‏@cmvill 5m5 minutes ago
    @danburyweather @gilsimmons it’s either hailing in Danbury or we have some very large sleet pellets!

  43. 45 here in Manchester CT and cloudy. If this starts out as any sleet, it is going to be very short lived.

    3. Mark
      It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.
      I’M WITH you. I suspect not very long.
      Pretty decent slug of precip coming through.
      Is it heavy sleet.
      ?

      1. I Just don’t like the fact that I tried to correct you and that didnt seem to go over right, like I’m dead wrong. plenty of data to show it snows in April , and it most certainly can and will again snow in April sometime but it does not snow regularly that would mean it snows every single April and it does not. Thats al I’m saying on the matter. Have a good night old salty in no means is this to be disrespectfull towards you in any way.

  48. Ok.

    On the April “snow debate” which should actually pretty much not even be a debate.

    The ones that say it snows in April, myself included, are merely stating facts, and ALSO know that there are Aprils that Boston receives no snow at all. Hey guess what. We live in New England and in a region in which the weather can be highly variable. After all, just the other day we were comparing Boston’s high of 36 to the high of 83 just 3 years before on the same date. Weather is a combination of climate AND pattern. That’s what happens.

    The point being made here is that it can and does snow in Boston in April. Since both sides seem to know this, I’m not so sure there is anything left to debate here.

    And now it’s time to let the weather do what it’s going to do. 😀

    2. The debate is it does not snow every single April . Regularly means the same thing. Final word. Tk does it snow every single April , No.

      2. This is a repost of a statement above by Old Salty, who never said that it snows every single April:

        “But, NO ONE here is going to tell me that it does NOT routinely snow in April around here. Every year? Nope, but often enough to know it can and WILL happen. Growing up it snowed almost every April, screwing up baseball, golf and fishing. BIG storms, nah those are pretty rare, but often, like I said way above, an inch or 2 and sometimes
        3, 4 or 5 inches.”

        The word “routinely” is used as an adjective here, which means “common”.

        I’m still trying to figure out who said it snows every April. It’s been stated numerous times above that we are aware it does not snow every April in Boston. It’s even in the quote in this very post.

  49. Does this mean that around April 25th, there is going to be the day long debate of whether it occasionally snows in May ? 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      1. Oh, I agree. It has the potential to do most anything a majority of the year, I suppose.

        My only goal was to try to make everyone smile or have a laugh.

        2. You made me laugh out loud. I tried earlier but it didn’t work…..I couldn’t find my inner Tom and here you are 🙂

    2. I have observed snow 3 times in May in my lifetime, all 3 times here in Woburn.

      May 9-10 1977: 5.5 inches.
      May 4 1983: Trace.
      May 18 2002: 0.5 inch.

      1. I definitely remember the 1977 event.

        I wish I remember 2002, that is rather recent and yet, I cant. Of course, by then, I was in Marshfield, so, perhaps it was cold rain here.

  50. Three tornado warnings on going on central plains thunderstorms.

    If I read the radar correctly, one is for a cell just north of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

  51. OS – the sleet was not particularly heavy here and quickly mixed with rain. I’m back home now, it’s 37 degrees here and has flipped to mostly rain.

      2. And here I am thinking that the temperature of your jacket is the same as the outside temperature because, well, you were OUTSIDE. 😛

      1. Ah ha. I think I detect a hint. Hi kaprekar. May I assume the wisdom of youth….said with the utmost respect for youth

  54. I’ve been reading off and on today. I enjoy the debate and the blog as always. It has snowed in April and even May (although lower percentage). The problem is due to tight gradients and reports in populated ares without social media in the past. Where it rained in earlier populated ares in the last few decades, just a few miles away it snowed and not so many reports of accumulation. Make sense? Just my thoughts.

    1. Makes perfect sense. I’ve actually alluded to that fact before. We hear about EVERYTHING now. Before it was very much more limited.

  56. Just like everything else going on in the world I guess. People just have to much info at their fingertips. Social media shall be another debate. Again, I enjoy all of the reads everyone! By the way, I would love one more big time snow event and then “poof” all gone with a true spring time warmth pattern!

      2. Still a good 10 inches up here, although going quickly. Noticed that the brook by the house has increased it’s flow quite a bit today alone. Again, would love one more big hit of snow to create a nice Spring blanket and then gone, just as fast as it fell. That is one of the reasons why I enjoy Spring! It is the quick, ever changing conditions of the landscape.

  57. What a sight; a scary one for sure if you were there… first tornado of 2015, down near Tulsa as Tom had pointed out. You can see the greenish hail core in the upper right of the image. Very cool, but hopefully little damage and no injuries.

    http://i.imgur.com/4TW9b9e.jpg

  58. Still a good sleet falling. 40 degrees and a 28DP. At least no tornado! I lived in Wichita Falls TX for a year. Never got a direct hit but several nail biting events. Nothing quite like a super cell down there. I mean, we can get a good severe storm in New England, but, TX takes the cake!

  59. Just drove through some sleet and rain
    Mix in chestnut hill. Just rain now.
    Temp started at 44 and dropped to
    36. Cold rain.

  60. IF I may say…
    THERE is a humogous difference in the
    Amount of snowcover between downtown
    Boston and my house in Jp. HUGE difference!!!

  61. Well, TruGreen responded to my angry call the other day about not having come to service my lawn yet. They apparently sent someone to my house today because I found a note on my door and this abandoned in my lawn:

    http://i.imgur.com/MF9KFZd.jpg

    The note apologized and said they were unable to service my lawn because the person who came did not have snow shoes or chains for the spreader wheels. They said they would try again in 2-3 weeks!! Are you kidding me?! I am done with them. DONE!

    Charlie, do you service northern CT? I am interested in getting a quote. Many thanks.

    1. Really? That’s terrible. Are they sure? Could this therefore have been a terrorist attack? One would think that a terrorist organization would claim responsibility.

  63. Just saw a sad video on twitter. MOORE, Ok
    Hit by a vicious tornado. Im mobile or I would post
    A link.
    I’ll try. Have’t learned how yet.

    1. Maybe not. Might indicate something happened to pilot. A door locking behind when one leaves cockpit is not unusual. Although not sure of Lufthansa protocol. Pilot could have been unresponsive.

      1. Yes, but there are always two in that particular Airbus. How could both be unresponsive? I had been thinking it’s similar to the 2005 incident with Helios Airways: cabin depressurization. This can incapacitate pilots. It may still turn out to be that. Who knows.

        1. Sister in law said not atypical to have one leave. In US the door locks behind. She is not sure if international flights are all that strict Could be pilot had some sort of problem that left him unresponsive or could mean much worse.

            2. Yes, I think so. Military official disclosed details to NY Times on condition of anonymity. Scary stuff.

              May want to investigate the pilots, just as they did with the Malaysia flight for a possible suicide mission. This has happened before several times – Egypt Air comes to mind; late 90s (flight from NYC to Cairo). The Malaysian airliner last year could have been a suicide mission. Of course, we do not know. Yet, it’s crucial we find answers.

  66. The region is a tough place, I used to live in the south of France and hiked all around that region. Finding everything is near impossible. One of the pilots in the cockpit must have unresponsive from some reason or another.

    1. I am surprised they are leaking info like this. Mac said as young family they flew over the area…,in a prop plane. He said if was a nasty flight

    1. Some have keys. Some have combinations and some have neither. This seems to have had neither. SIL said some have the lock process but there are pilots on a few that are not quite as diligent

  68. Pilots leave cockpits all the time, bathroom, coffee, chatting etc…. Good friend of family has been a pilot for united for decades.

    1. That’s cool, my dad’s a longtime United pilot. That’s one of the big reasons I got into weather, obviously two very closely related fields.

    2. Absolutely Hadi. That’s why I think leaking this is premature. A lot of people do not know that.

  69. They have the voice recorder boxes so they have audio so I sm sure the French are analyzing it throughly.

    1. You’re right. They appear to be able to access the first recorder.

      It’s such a strange set of circumstances. Several very bizarre crashes this past year, including the two Malaysian airliners and now this plane. The crash in Taiwan last month was odd, too. But it did occur during the most dangerous part of a flight: take-off.

    1. Me, too. It’s a great plane and an excellent company. If it’s a cabin depressurization issue, it’s worth nothing the Helios Airways jet (2005 crash in Greece) was a Boeing 737, I believe. So, it wouldn’t be inherently an Airbus flaw.

    2. After 46 years of flying my sister in law says it is easily one of her favorites. Because of the technology she also said newer pilots can have some trouble but this pilot was not news.

  72. Just thoughts…
    It seems to me too much shenannigans
    Going on with these crashes. Equipment
    Failure on all of them???
    I would guess not. My guesd is something
    Nefarious.

    1. We don’t know. But, it can’t be ruled out. I just saw the Lufthansa chairman speak at a news conference and emphatically declare that Lufthansa had never lost a plane in mid flight. He was clearly perturbed by the fact that the plane crashed in mid flight. As we know, the vast majority of accidents occur on takeoff or landing. Btw, Lufthansa is the parent company of Germanwings.

      1. Interesting. Tx Joshua. Mid flight is rare which makes one say hmmmmm. Not necessarily terror but something cropping up with the planes.

  73. What seemed to be a controlled descent is odd and some experts have said wreckage seems to indicate plane was intact at moment of impact ruling out explosion. None of this takes from the tragic event of course.

  74. Yeah only 15% of flight accidents occur during mid flight. Very rare as most accidents occur at takeoff or landing. Majority happen during the first 20 minutes of takeoff.

  76. I don’t believe anything terrorist related happened with this plane. To me cabin pressure was probably the cause. The big drop was maybe as they lost pressure until the crew got the plane stabilized and then bc of the loss of pressure they couldn’t regain full control of the plain. The French should be able to solve this quickly. They don’t have the same restrictions that we have with the NTSB and FAA etc…

    1. Just don’t see all these planes having similar problems leading to
      depressurization. Just not likely imo.

      1. Lufthansa said it doesn’t know about pilot being locked out. If that is true why does the US do this. It just isn’t our place. And it is cruel for the families.

        1. Guess we are not alone. SIL is reading the french and Italian newspapers and said they are running with NYTs report.

  78. Light to moderate rain between 9-10pm, seems to be getting a little foggy, temp actually went up a half degree in last hour to 38.6 degrees, by morning temps will be in the low 40’s 🙂

  79. The posting problems earlier were caused by the spam filter not working properly. It appears to be resolved.

  85. Good morning, all 🙂
    Just popping in to say hi – I read the blog daily, just haven’t had much to add.

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