DAYS 1-5 (MARCH 11-15)
A quick note for early morning readers: There are some fog and freezing fog areas over parts of southeastern MA and RI and some of this is resulting in black ice. There are also patches of black ice where yesterday’s snowmelt did not dry up completely, so keep an eye out for that until about mid morning. After that any fog will be gone and the temperature will have risen enough to eliminate any icing issue. For the remainder of today, high pressure now offshore will allow an increasing southerly air flow and we’ll turn milder with more clouds, but still some sun as well – not a bad day. There are some adjustments to the details of the impact of our Saturday storm system. The boundary that this developing low will be moving along is going to be further east and moving with less delay than previously expected. So the low center, previously expected to be turning quite strong as it tracked just west of our area, will in fact be strengthening a little more slowly as it tracks across far southeastern New England (probably Cape Cod), and intensifying more rapidly just after it passes. The end result is less wind ahead of it, and an event that does start as rain for the entire region, but has a rain/snow line that progresses eastward during the course of the event. However, the bulk of the moisture will have already come through as this process takes place, so this will limit how much snow falls, even back to the west where amounts will be greater than to the east. Still, a quick temperature drop as the system departs can result in some freeze-up of untreated surfaces Saturday night into Sunday, so keep an eye out for that. Also, we’ll be dealing with much colder air and gusty wind into Sunday, despite a return to dry weather. The winds will settle down by Monday, which will be a dry and milder day as high pressure dominates. That high heads offshore Tuesday and a frontal system approaching from the west as its parent low moves by to our north may produce a rain shower Tuesday. Also, a reminder that at 2:00 a.m. Sunday we make the switch from standard time to daylight saving time.
TODAY: Areas of fog and freezing fog RI and southeastern MA early morning. Partly sunny. Highs 47-54. Wind SW-S increasing to 5-15 MPH.
TONIGHT: Clouding over. Rain arriving overnight. Lows 40-47. Wind S-SE 5-15 MPH.
SATURDAY: Cloudy. Rain, changing to snow from west to east during the day. Snow accumulation by evening up to 2 inches in higher elevations of southwestern NH and north central MA with generally a coating to 1 inch at most. Temperatures fall 40s to 30s. Wind SE-E 5-15 MPH early morning, shifting to N-NW 10-20 MPH except Cape Cod where they stay SE for longer before shifting later, with higher gusts possible.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. Chance of snow showers evening. Lows 18-25. Wind NW 15-25 MPH, gusts over 30 MPH. Wind chill falling below 10.
SUNDAY: Sun and passing clouds. Highs 33-40. Wind NW 15-25 MPH, gusts over 30 MPH. Wind chill below 10 in the morning.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Clear. Lows 18-25. Wind W up to 10 MPH.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 47-54. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
MONDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Lows 35-42. Wind SW up to 10 MPH.
TUESDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of a rain shower. Highs 51-58 except cooler South Coast / Cape Cod. Wind SW 5-15 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (MARCH 16-20)
A little milder pattern overall but still some variability in temperatures. A couple of low pressure systems may bring some unsettled weather but it’s difficult to time these systems this far in advance. The vernal equinox occurs at 11:33 a.m. on Sunday March 20 – the start of spring.
DAYS 11-15 (MARCH 21-25)
We will continue to see some battling of early spring warmth to our south and lingering cold of winter to our north, leaving us vulnerable to temperature changes and a couple bouts of unsettled weather heading into late March.