Good Morning from Central New Hampshire!

Today

It will not matter where you are today across New England -- there is a good chance that you will see snow flakes in the air. A quick look at the Intellicast radar across the Northeast U.S. shows that it is already snowing across New York, Connecticut, and western Massachusetts.

These observations can also be seen in the surface weather analysis (look for the pink asterisks below the air temperatures in red and above the dew point temperatures in green) courtesy the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research:

The snow showers today will be the result of a broad long wave upper-level trough moving across the region that will bring increased atmospheric instability and cloudy skies to the region. Temperatures across the region will remain in the mid 20s F North to mid 30s F South, with teens expected across the higher summits in the North Country. 

The increased atmospheric instability will produce the heaviest snow showers across mountainous regions of northern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Forecasted snowfall totals today will follow the topographic contours of New England with a dusting to one inch expected at elevations below 1000', with about an additional inch of snow for additional 1000' of elevation increase. In other words, the highest elevations in Vermont and New Hampshire will see 2-4" of snow. Snowfall totals from the NWS are shown below for Wednesday:

End of the Week Forecast

This upper-level trough will be in no hurry to depart New England, leaving us with snow showers likely through Thursday night. Friday will be a brief transition day as a ridge of higher pressure crests over the region before the Arctic flood gates spill open with the coldest air since March 2015. An Arctic cold front and second (much deeper) upper-level trough will sweep across New England overnight on Saturday with more snow showers expected. 

Weekend Forecast

Behind this Arctic front, temperatures will struggle to get out of the single digits across all of northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine with teens across southern New England with blustery conditions. Temperatures at ski resorts across Vermont and New Hampshire will be in the low single digits on Saturday and Sunday at their bases, single digits below zero near their summits, and wind chill temperatures will be well below zero. Temperatures on Sunday morning will be in the teens below zero North and single digits below zero elsewhere across New England. If you plan on being at the ski resorts on Saturday or Sunday -- bring extra layers of clothes, face masks, hand warmers, etc -- and plan to take breaks from the cold at the lodges. 

Next Week

We will head into another week with unsettled weather with a weak area of low pressure crossing overs New England on Monday with a chance of additional light snow. Any accumulation from this system currently looks to be 0-2" across the region. A coastal storm similar to those earlier this past week will skirt up the Gulf Stream and clip Cape Cod on Tuesday night. Snowfall totals in southern New England will be extremely dependent on the track of this coastal storm. An Alberta Clipper clips across New England on Wednesday night with another shot of light snow. Long-range multi-model guidance (GFS, ECMWF, and their ensembles) suggest a warmup might be in store toward the end of next week with a low pressure taking a track to our west that would deliver a snow-to-rain-to-snow event across New England. We're talking 10 days out -- so stay tuned.

Rob Megnia will be back with another update on Thursday morning.

-Jay Cordeira, Plymouth State University/New England Daily Snow