DAYS 1-5 (FEBRUARY 8-12)
Our weather pattern will be a mild one overall but holds several weather changes as we move through the remainder of this week and over the weekend. One must remember that a “mild” pattern in the winter doesn’t mean you can’t have winter weather issues. Last night, a frontal boundary crossed the region with a brief period of precipitation, falling as mostly rain and sleet, with some of that rain falling as freezing rain especially west and north of Boston and over some interior portions of southeastern MA and northern RI as well. This leaves untreated surfaces where the precipitation fell on the slick side in these areas early this morning, and this will be an issue until the temperature rises above freezing in these locations, so anybody venturing out this morning please take note of these and be safe. Otherwise, a nice winter day can be expected as high pressure dominates. But don’t get used to any persistence, as additional changes are ahead. A warm front approaches Thursday, bringing clouds back in and a period of rain, which may start as some snow and sleet over interior southern NH and central MA. The low pressure area parenting this front will track northwest of our region and its fairly weak cold front will come across the region Thursday night with some rain shower activity. Behind this front however is not much in the way of cooling, in fact, quite the opposite because the air will be sufficiently modified and the upper pattern supports a surge of mild air, with high temperatures on Friday that may challenge some records. The question is how much sun do we get? Not sure we clear enough to support the record-breaking temperatures, but it is a potential. Heading into the weekend there are a couple more questions to be answered. A secondary front coming through on Saturday will send our temperatures back to a more seasonable chill during the course of the weekend. There will be two waves of low pressure to keep an eye on. Low pressure wave number 1 will pass south of the region Friday night and Saturday. Guidance has trended a bit further south with this system and it does appear that most of the precipitation will remain to the south of New England. What does reach the region would most likely be limited to the South Coast and be in the form of rain sometime Friday night into Saturday. The second low pressure wave carries a little more uncertainty and may surge its way into a little more of southern New England by later Sunday. If its precipitation shield does make it in, the odds of some frozen precipitation being involved would be a little higher with colder air in place. This will be watched closely and fine-tuned as we get closer to it…
TODAY: Clouds give way to sun. Highs 41-48. Wind NW 5-15 MPH.
TONIGHT: Clear. Lows 24-31. Wind W up to 10 MPH.
THURSDAY: Increasing clouds. Chance of rain mid to late afternoon that may begin as snow or sleet well north and west of Boston. Highs 43-50 occurring late in the day. Wind variable to SE up to 10 MPH.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with a chance of rain in the evening, drizzle and patchy fog overnight. Lows 38-45. Wind SE to S 5-15 MPH.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy. Highs 53-60. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. Chance of rain favoring the South Coast late evening and overnight. Lows 40-47. Wind N 5-15 MPH.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy to partly sunny. Chance of rain near the South Coast early. Highs 40-47 then falling slowly. Wind N 5-15 MPH.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly to mostly cloudy. Lows 33-40. Wind N 5-15 MPH.
SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain/mix/snow, favoring southern areas, in the afternoon. Temperatures steady 33-40. Wind NE 5-15 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (FEBRUARY 13-17)
Watching for minor systems around mid period and maybe a slightly stronger one at the end of the period with precipitation threats. Temperatures near to above normal.
DAYS 11-15 (FEBRUARY 18-22)
Hard to time any systems that may threaten, but early indications are that one may approach late in the period with a rain/mix/snow threat once again. Temperatures near to above normal.