‘Potentially significant storm’ possible in the Bay State
Could the biggest snowstorm of the season hit the region during the final week of winter?
Meteorologists are gaining confidence by the hour that some type of storm will impact Massachusetts early next week, and some forecast models show that it might be a whopper.
There’s potential for more than a foot of heavy wet snow for some parts of the Bay State, according to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bob Larson.
Plenty of questions remain about the track of the storm, along with the precipitation type and duration of the system.
“It’s becoming more and more apparent that some type of storm will be affecting you early next week,” Larson told the Herald on Thursday.
“The intensity of the storm and the placement of the storm are two big questions,” he added.
The forecast models are consistently in agreement that the storm wouldn’t impact the region until Monday night. Some of the models show the system here through Tuesday, while other models predict the system would linger through Wednesday.
“There’s still a lot of model uncertainty on what’s going to happen, and it’s still far out to nail down precipitation type,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Pederson, based in the NWS Boston office.
“Confidence is getting higher that some sort of precipitation will be falling,” he said, adding that the exact track of the low-pressure system has been “all over the place.”
A period of strong winds will also be possible from this storm.
After an ocean storm misses the Boston-area this weekend, forecasters should have a better idea of how this system will play out.
“High pressure delivers dry, tranquil weather Sunday, then a potentially significant storm may impact the region early next week,” reads the National Weather Service’s forecast discussion.
“Expect unsettled weather for much if not all of the first half of the work week as a deep mid level trough will begin to dig into the Midwest Sunday night, directing a plume of moisture into southern New England ahead of the frontal system which looks to move into the vicinity of New England around Monday night/Tuesday,” the discussion reads. “While there remains considerable uncertainty in the low’s track given a significant spread in the ensemble low locations at this distance in time, confidence is increasing that wet weather will return for the first half of the work week.”