DAYS 1-5 (MARCH 3-7)
A frontal boundary will be the conveyor belt for low pressure areas passing by our region in the next 5 days. The details of each day will be determined by the position of the front and movement of each low. Today, we start bright and very cold but clouds are already advancing into southwestern portions of the WHW forecast area and will overtake the sky across the remainder of the region through the morning. This afternoon and evening, a wave of low pressure passing by to our south will bring a swath of precipitation which starts as snow and transitions to rain from south to north, but with an interim period of sleet for some areas and where it remains cold enough over the interior, some freezing rain is likely. Minor snowfall accumulation and icing (where it occurs) will be enough for some hazardous travel, especially away from the coast, from late afternoon into late evening. After that low pressure wave goes by, it will drag the front, which tried to come through as a warm front, back to the south as a cold front, enough to allow a bubble of high pressure to be close enough for fair weather, but limited sun, during Wednesday. The front will begin to push back our way as a warm front again during Thursday with more cloudiness, though rain should remain mostly south of the region until the end of day or Thursday night. The next low pressure area will take a track similar to tonight’s as the frontal boundary is forced back to the south by eastern Canadian high pressure, bringing rain but some wintry mix potential for interior and northern areas into Friday before precipitation tapers off. The next low pressure area is set to track well to our north by later Saturday and should do its part to pull the boundary northward once again. That day should still feature a fair amount of clouds, but will turn out milder, but not without a rain shower chance.
TODAY: Clouding over. Snow/sleet southwest to northeast afternoon then transitions to sleet/rain southern areas late-day. Highs 32-39. Wind calm becoming E up to 10 MPH.
TONIGHT: Cloudy. Snow/sleet to rain/freezing rain (inland) evening, ending overnight. Patchy fog forms. Temperatures steady 32-39 early then rise slightly. Wind variable up to 10 MPH early, becoming W late.
WEDNESDAY: Clouds break for sun. Fog patches early morning. Highs 42-49. Wind W up to 10 MPH becoming variable then SE by late-day.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Partly to mostly cloudy. Patchy fog. Lows 32-39. Wind SE up to 10 MPH.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy. Rain arrives by late-day especially south of I-90. Highs 42-49, coolest coast. Wind SE up to 10 MPH.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. Rain likely but pockets of sleet and freezing rain possible southern NH and northern MA overnight. Lows 32-39. Wind shifting to NE up to 10 MPH from north to south.
FRIDAY: Cloudy. Rain/ice/sleet morning-midday (freezing/frozen precipitation most likely inland and north). Areas of fog. Highs 35-42. Wind NE to N up to 10 MPH.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Foggy areas. Temperatures steady 35-42. Wind calm.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy. Chance of a rain shower. Highs 42-47 South Coast, 48-53 elsewhere, occurring later in the day. Wind calm, becoming SW 5-15 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (MARCH 8-12)
The switch from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time takes place on March 8 (2:00 a.m. EST becomes 3:00 a.m. EDT). Low pressure passes north of our region allow it to remain mild to start the period but two cold fronts come through with a downward temperature trend and maybe a couple passing rain showers into early next week, and after a brief cooler interlude the next storm system tracks well to the north with signs of a stronger southwesterly air flow and more pronounced warm-up for a couple days middle of next week. Frontal boundary from west end of period may bring a rain chance but not sure of timing on that this far in advance.
DAYS 11-15 (MARCH 13-17)
Colder trend with additional unsettled weather chances that can include wintry precipitation at mid month. Too soon for any details.