Forecast discussion: Well, it is cold enough for you? Unfortunately, if you are not a fan of this cold wave, I have bad news for you. It’s large and will be in charge for the next few days.
Right now, a strong upper level trough is bringing down arctic air into the Northeast U.S. Our high temperature in Providence day was only 16 degrees. Once again, our overnight lows will fall into the single digits, with wind chills tonight reaching about 5 below zero. So, please bundle up if you have to be out during the overnight hours.
We will see mostly sunny skies once again for Thursday, but a north-northwest breeze will help it feel colder than the high teens I am forecasting. Wind chill values will be around 5-10 below zero during the daytime hours. We will once again return to single digits for low temperatures Thursday night, with wind chills remaining at 5-10 below zero.
The next news story is the possibility of a low pressure system strengthening as it moves out of the central U.S. and offshore of Long Island Friday night. There is a silver lining in this cloud; the computer models are beginning to converge on the same solution. The American, European, United Kingdom, and even the Canadian model are agreeing that the low will be further south than the previous forecast. This means that the inland areas will not see significant snowfall amounts, but the south shore, along with the Cape and Islands, may see the heaviest accumulations. This would be a carbon copy of the last ocean low that passed south and east of Southern New England. However, we still have 48 hours before we begin to see the first snowflakes, so I will continue to monitor the models. If there are any changes to the models’ solutions, I will inform you tomorrow night.
Any snowfall we do receive will come to an end by the early afternoon on Saturday. We will see one more bout of very cold temperatures Saturday night, before the upper level trough moves to our east. This will along an upper level ridge to move over the eastern U.S. This will allow for warmer air to return from the south and filter back over New England. A weak surface low will bring the chance of some snow showers Monday evening, with another strong low moving over our area on Tuesday night. However, a warm front will reach New England Tuesday night, changing our precipitation over to rain Wednesday morning. Temperatures will become balmy to us by Tuesday, as daytime highs are expected to reach the lower 40’s.
72 hour forecast:
Tonight: Partly cloudy and bitterly cold with the mercury falling to only 6 degrees.
Thursday: Mostly sunny and breezy with a high of 18. Winds will come from the north-northwest at 13-16 mph.
Thursday night: Partly cloudy with a low of 5. Winds will come from the northwest at 9-12 mph.
Friday: Increasing clouds through the day and warmer with a high of 23.
Friday night: Snow showers by the end of the morning commute with light snow during the overnight and a low of 20.
Saturday: Breezy, with light snow tapering off through the morning, ending in the early afternoon. We will see a high of 27.
Saturday night: Partly cloudy and cold with a low of 10.
Extended Forecast:
Sunday: Mostly sunny with diminishing winds. Highs 23-26, lows 15-18.
Monday: Partly sunny with possible snow showers in the evening. Highs 34-37, lows 22-25.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with possible evening snow showers. Highs 40-43, lows 26-29.
Wednesday: Precipitation changing to rain showers in the morning. Highs 42-45, lows 30-33.
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