Change is coming to the Northeast. It may not be the kind of change that Denver saw in the past 18 hours when the temperature dropped from 57° to 5°, but some wintry precipitation and cold weather is in the mix for New England over the next couple of weeks. The first system will bring rain showers Thursday and Friday, and may end as some snow (especially inland) late Friday night.
Cold air will dig in over the weekend, and the system coming out of the Southeast runs right into it Sunday night. While the bulk of the storm will probably be rain, there will be some snow/ice at the start. Once again, inland locations have the best chance of seeing snow accumulation before the change to rain on Monday. It could be the first “front end thump” of the winter – that’s when there is a burst of precipitation ahead of the warmer air trying to get into Southern New England.
Overall, the pattern looks cool to cold from December 10-20. Whether there will be any storms that take a more southerly track and bring snow remains to be seen, but the jet stream configuration certainly does not preclude it from happening. Last December was 4° warmer than normal. We’ll be lucky if this December is 2° warmer than normal, and it could end up averaging near or below normal if there is some snow pack by the 20th.
