Up To 8 Inches Of Snow Likely Coming To Massachusetts Friday

By Terry Eliasen, Meteorologist, WBZ-TV Exec. Weather Producer

BOSTON (CBS) – Gas up the snow blower. It’s coming! A widespread, plowable snowfall is on the way Friday morning. It won’t be a “blockbuster” or even a “major” winter storm but nonetheless most of us will be shoveling or snow blowing for the first time this year.

Here is the very latest:

• This will be a quick moving storm.
• Timing remains unchanged with the Friday morning commute the most impacted.
• Snowfall forecast raised slightly to a widespread 4-to-8 inches for the majority of eastern Massachusetts, lower amounts well to the northwest and over Cape Cod and the Islands.
• Tricky travel Friday morning, especially near and south of Boston where snowfall rates could reach 1 inch per hour for a short period of time.
• Wind and coastal flooding not a concern.

TIMELINE

Snow begins from west to east early Friday morning between 2 and 5 a.m. It will overspread the area rather quickly and the ground should be whitened and roads covered by 6-to-7 a.m.

The steadiest and heaviest snow will fall between 5 and 10 a.m. This is when the majority of the accumulation will occur.

The snowfall intensity wanes by late morning and very little additional accumulation is expected by Friday afternoon.

HOW MUCH

• 4”-8” for just about all of central and eastern Mass, inside of Route 495 and including Worcester and Boston and all of southeastern Mass. down to the Cape Cod Canal.
• 2”-4” well to the north and west, beyond northern Worcester County into central New England (farther away from the storm), much lighter and fluffier snow up this way.
• 2”-4” over most of the Cape with some mixing with rain likely at times and a much heavier and wetter consistency.
• Less than 2” over Nantucket with a lot of mixing and rain.

As for the northern ski areas, this isn’t your storm, perhaps just a few inches.