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Another Powerful Snowstorm, close to a foot of snow likely in Westford

Storm Energizing Toward New England

Our approaching storm doesn’t look too impressive yet, but it is destined to intensify explosively as it crosses over Cape Cod and emerges over the Gulf Of Maine tonight into tomorrow.

2017 surface analysis Storm Energizing Toward New England

Extremely favorable atmospheric dynamics will produce the so-called bombogenesis, but these beasts can be very tricky to forecast specifics.

2017 rpm 12km22 Storm Energizing Toward New England

PRECIPITATION TYPES, TIMING & AMOUNTS:

Most of the precipitation generated by this system will be either rain or snow. The rain/snow line will churn northwestward from Cape Cod into southeastern Massachusetts this afternoon and then run into resistance in an axis this evening from near outer Cape Ann through Boston south-westward to Providence. Consequently, due to temperatures in flux along this axis, flipping back and forth between snow and rain is probable. This will cut down on amounts.

As a result, rain is most likely over Cape Cod with snow turning to rain over the rest of southeastern Massachusetts this afternoon. Through 7 p.m., I am expecting a rather widespread blanket of 3-5″ of fresh snow, except closer to the axis where 1-3″ is more likely. The rain or rain/snow mix along this axis will flip back to all snow as the boundary starts reversing back into southeastern Massachusetts late this evening. As the storm center gets closer, more thunder and lightning is again possible–especially over southeastern Mass and up into the Boston area this evening.

2017 rpm 12km3 Storm Energizing Toward New England

Once the storm moves over the Gulf Of Maine, the dilemma is determining how much  backlash/wrap-around snows will whip around the storm center. Will there be crushing bands of whiteout snows amidst gales? It remains to be seen, but it is looking more like southeastern Massachusetts may only be sideswiped by some bursts of heavier snow that will push offshore later tomorrow morning.

2017 rpm 12km4 Storm Energizing Toward New England

Clearly, the highest totals of snow will be found across northern Massachusetts, with jackpot areas in eastern New Hampshire into much of Maine.

In Westford, I would expect right around a foot, give or take a few inches on either side.  School seems very unlikely Monday.

2017 snowfall poly forecast1 Storm Energizing Toward New England

Presently, most signs favor around or just under 8″ in Boston, ranging down to 4″ or less near or just north of the Cape Cod Canal ranging down to perhaps only a couple of inches on parts of the Cape tomorrow morning. On the other hand, amounts escalating closer to or over 1 foot are most likely near and north of Route 2 northward. For the most parts, snowfall rate will be greatest in the snowier areas late this afternoon and evening to a bit after midnight. Snowfall rates along the coast near Boston southward may be the highest in the early morning hours in any backlash.

2017 wind forecast polygon1 Storm Energizing Toward New England

WINDS & TIDES:

The most powerful winds will occur after the storm center passes over Cape Cod and moves over the Gulf Of Maine. Gusts to hurricane force cannot be ruled out primarily over outer Cape Cod and possibly outer Cape Ann. Due to the higher density snow from this storm coupled with the vicious wind gusts, some damage is likely so be prepared for power outages being more widespread in eastern New England. The wind will ramp up to 20-40 mph along the coast from the east-northeast later this afternoon and temporarily become light over Cape Cod later this evening as the storm center passes over the area.

The strong wind will result in building seas causing beach erosion over the next couple of days. The next high tide tonight will occur around 12:30 am so some splashover on some of the vulnerable shore roads is possible. The scheduled height of this tide is just a bit over 10 feet with a slight surge will produce just a few pockets of minor flooding. The next high tide at 12:45 pm tomorrow is scheduled to be just under 11 feet. The surface wind, fortunately, will be more northwesterly through much of that incoming tide. Consequently, the storm surge would not be extreme but a foot or so would cause some minor flooding but there will be bigger waves crashing on the shoreline. There is a Coastal Flood Watch posted for that tide by the National Weather Service.

2017 coastal concerns watch1 Storm Energizing Toward New England

Thankfully, this storm is in progressive mode, so it will slow down and really nail us for a couple of days. As it moves farther out to sea, the wind will relax tomorrow night and Valentine’s Day promises to be quite tranquil with sunshine yielding to increasing afternoon cloudiness with no repeat of the record low -9 on 2/14/16! After a weaker storm on Wednesday into Thursday, the weather pattern will change to provide sunshine and a warm-up next weekend.

Click here for Westford snow storm data and past totals or select “Winter Snowfall“ under “Pages” on the left hand side.

For more up to date forecast information follow me on Twitter (@terrywbz) or follow the WBZ weather team on Facebook, search WBZWeather

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