4:59PM

The theme of the next 7 days will be temperature swings: First down, then up, then down again. A frontal system moving offshore will slow down and develop a low pressure wave on it, but this will stay offshore through Sunday. A secondary cold front will cross New England Sunday night with scattered snow showers, and yet another wave of low pressure will exit the Mid Atlantic Coast by Tuesday, passing well east of New England. This series of events will serve to bring colder air in and reinforce it through Tuesday. This will not be a significant cold outbreak, just rather chilly. But it will not last too long, for as high pressure builds offshore by midweek, a return flow of southwesterly winds will boost temperatures up big time with 50+ expected Wednesday and 60+ for Thursday. A cold front crossing the region Friday will bring some rain showers, then return temperatures to the chilly side of things by the start of next weekend.

Forecast for RI, eastern MA, southern NH…

TONIGHT: Clouds return late. Low from the upper 20s rural areas to mid 30s urban centers and coast. Wind SW around 10 MPH shifting to W.

SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy to partly sunny. High from the upper 30s across the hills NW of Boston to 40-45 elsewhere. Wind W 5-15 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Scattered snow showers. Low 25-30. Wind NW 5-15 MPH.

MONDAY: Mostly sunny. High 35-40. Wind NW 10-20 MPH.

TUESDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 18. High 36.

WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 29. High 53.

THURSDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 39. High 62.

FRIDAY: Variably cloudy. Chance of rain showers. Low 42. High 55.

SATURDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 29. High 38.

4:34PM

Although we are not going to be seeing any major snow and damaging storms in the next several days, we will be seeing some big swings in weather and temperature.

After our little bout with winter, especially inland and higher elevations, the cold air and clouds remained locked in during the day Friday, but it won’t really get any colder tonight. In fact it will go the other way, with a rising temperature as a southerly wind develops ahead of a deepening low pressure area that will pass northwest of southern New England on Saturday. Precipitation will arrive early enough so that some snow/sleet/freezing rain may lead things off later tonight, especially around and outside of Route 495 in areas mostly north of the Mass Turnpike. So conditions in these areas may become slippery all over again for a few hours tonight before the warm air takes over and we just see rain. Elsewhere, rain will move in. And bands of rain will cross the region through Saturday morning. A few of these may have embedded heavier showers of rain with possible thunder. This system looks as if it will be moving fast enough so that the rain cuts off in the early afternoon from west to east, clouds break, and even some sun may appear before it sets. Very mild air will be in place by this time, erasing much of the snow that fell.

An upper trough and a series of cold fronts will cross the region Sunday and Monday, with a trend to colder weather, some rain showers and eventually snow showers, though much of this time will be precipitation-free.

High pressure will build across the  East Coast then offshore Tuesday through the middle of next week, with a chilly Tuesday followed by a major warm-up during the middle of next week (always said with not total confidence given the time of year).

Forecast for eastern MA, southern NH, and RI..

TONIGHT: Cloudy. Areas of fog. Precipitation developing from southwest to northeast after 9PM, in the form of rain in most areas except starting as snow and sleet anywhere outside of Route 95 with maybe a mix just inside 95, then snow/sleet/freezing rain continuing for a while especially well north and west of Boston for up to a few hours before turning to rain. Temperature starting out in the upper 20s to middle 30s then rising to the upper 30s to lower 40s during the night, coolest northwest to mildest southeast of Boston. Wind light variable, becoming S increasing to 10-15 MPH.

SATURDAY: Cloudy through early afternoon with numerous rain showers and possible thunderstorms, ending west to east. Breaking clouds and some sun possible mid to late afternoon. High 50-55. Wind S 10-20 MPH shifting to W.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Low 30-35. Wind W 10-15 MPH.

SUNDAY: Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers in the afternoon. High 41-46. Wind W 10-20 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly to partly cloudy. Low 25-30. Wind WNW 10-15 MPH.

MONDAY: Sunny start and finish, clouds in the middle part of the day with a few passing snow showers possible. High 35-40. Wind NW 10-20 MPH.

TUESDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 17. High 38.

WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny. Low 28. High 54.

THURSDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 39. High 62.

FRIDAY: AM rain showers. Low 40. High 50.

7:55PM

Now that the disorganized winterish sort of event is winding down as snow in most places, and rather slowly at that, the only lasting impact from it will be tonight’s freeze-up as temperatures sit in the 20s in most locations (bit milder coast and southeastern MA for a while).

Not far behind this departing system is the next low pressure area, but like many others this season, this one has a destination that brings it on a track north of southern New England, putting us on the warm side. Only some brief snow/sleet may occur Friday night at the start of the precipitation from a bit of cold air hanging on. But eventually this becomes a numerous rain shower producer, but moves through rather quickly, fast enough so that the sun may even make an appearance before Saturday is over! Some lingering upper level low pressure troughing in the region means that lots of clouds will return on Sunday and probably linger on Monday as well, with a trend to chilly temperatures for a short time.

As we reach the middle of next week, it looks like a significant warm-up will take place, along with fair weather – a taste of spring (not that far different from what much of the winter was like).

Forecast for eastern MA, RI, and southern NH…

TONIGHT: Cloudy. Snow tapering off and ending from west to east with additional accumulation of less than 1 inch except locally just over 1 inch interior southeastern MA. Low 22-27. Wind N 5-15 MPH.

FRIDAY: Cloudy to partly sunny. High 35-40. Wind N around 10 MPH.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. A period of rain may begin as sleet and even wet snow especially northwest of Boston. Numerous rain showers all areas after midnight. Low 30-35 early then temperature rising back toward 40. Wind E 5-15 MPH.

SATURDAY: Cloudy with rain showers in the morning. Breaking clouds in the afternoon. High 45-50. Wind E-SE 5-15 MPH in the morning, shifting to W 10-20 MPH in the afternoon.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Low 30-35. Wind W 10-15 MPH.

SUNDAY: Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of light rain showers in the afternoon. High 40-45. Wind W 5-15 MPH shifting to NW.

MONDAY: Mostly cloudy. Low 25. High 35.

TUESDAY: Partly sunny. Low 15. High 40.

WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy. Low 25. High 50.

THURSDAY: Mostly sunny. Low 35. High 60.