Another Arctic cold front swept through Southern New England on Thursday. The temperature will fall to 0 to 8° by dawn on Friday, and the wind chill will be -10 to -25° early in the day with a 15-30 mph west-northwest wind. Friday looks bright, but frigid, with highs in the low to mid teens, and wind chills near zero all day. Providence, Boston, and Hartford may set records for the coldest high temperature on February 20. The wind will relax Friday night, and the temperature will fall to near zero with mainly clear skies.
Clouds will increase on Saturday as a storm system approaches from the west. As expected, the computer model trend with this system has been for a colder solution, with more snow and ice than rain in Southern New England. It does not look like a major storm, but accumulating, plowable snow is possible Saturday evening as the first batch of precipitation arrives. The temperature will climb to the upper 20s to low 30s by midnight Saturday, and snow may change to sleet or freezing rain between the late-evening and late at night.
A good chance that 2015 is the coldest combined Jan-Feb on record in Providence.
1918 Jan 20.3° Feb 25.9°
2015 Jan 26.2° Feb 18.6° (so far)— Fred Campagna (@FredCampagna) February 19, 2015
It is unclear how much precipitation will fall late Saturday night through Sunday, but the odds of heavy rain have diminished. Cold air will stay pretty well entrenched in Southern New England, and it will likely be mixed precipitation or chilly rain showers, but not a soaking rain. The high temperature may reach 40° near the coast, while staying in the low to mid 30s inland.
Yet another shot of Arctic air is ahead for early next week after the storm departs. The temperature will be running well below normal with dry conditions likely on Monday and Tuesday. Lows will be in the single digits, and highs will be in the teens to mid 20s. Normal highs for late February are in the low 40s. More snow is possible in the middle of next week.