The weather in Southern New England continues to be very quiet and seasonable, with lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s. Fortunately, for weather forecasters, there is plenty to keep our rapt attention as all computer models show a very active weather pattern setting up on the East Coast next week. The details are still vague, but several storms are possible from this Sunday to next Sunday. There will be some snowflakes in the coastal plain of Southern New England, but there are also likely to be some raindrops, and, at least, one of the storms should be strong enough to bring howling winds and a minor coastal flood threat.
With such an active pattern and the winter solstice next Friday, you may be thinking Southern New England will get buried. There is, however, forecast to be a relative lack of cold air in Eastern Canada next week. Without this Arctic Air to tap into, the track of the storms will be even more critical. At this point, since the computer models are having a very difficult time determining when the storms will develop and how intense they will be, the best way to view it is as an unsettled stretch of weather with rain and/or snow possible from Sunday through most of next week. The early odds favor more rain than snow for most of RI, CT, and SE MA, with a better chance of accumulating snow in Western MA, Northern NY and Northern New England.
Sunday storm not strong
While there is a lot of uncertainty with the forecast between next Monday and Friday, the weather for Sunday is coming into better focus. A warm front will slowly lift through Southern New England, and it should be the impetus for some light rain and snow. The best chance of snow accumulation is inland, where 1-2″ is possible. Overall, it looks similar to what happened a week ago Saturday (Dec. 1) when many spots picked up a solid dusting. The difference is it may not be as cool near the coast, so rather than picking up some snow, those areas may see chilly rain this time around. The Patriots-49ers game will not be played in a major storm, but some light rain/snow is possible at Gillette during the afternoon and evening. It will be about 20 degrees colder for this game than it was for Monday’s mild/damp game against the Texans.
