It feels like mid-winter in early March in Southern New England. Wednesday’s high temperature was bone chilling – in the mid 20s for most, and the wind chill made it feel even worse. The temperature dips into the single digits and teens Wednesday night. We are set up for more unseasonably cold weather on Thursday. The normal high is in the mid 40s, but the high temperature on Thursday will likely be in the upper 20s to low 30s and feeling like the teens to low 20s with a fresh westerly breeze. A few snow flurries or squalls cannot be ruled out.
It stays relatively cold on Friday, but it will be warmer than Thursday. Highs will be in the mid to upper 30s with increasing clouds. A storm system passing to our south will likely miss Southern New England. A few snow showers or flurries could flirt with the coast Friday night, but that’s about it. Some sun and slightly milder conditions are ahead for Saturday. It will feel nicer with highs close to 40°
A storm arriving on Sunday morning may start as snow before changing to rain fairly quickly. A very minor coating-1″ of snow is possible for most of CT, RI, and SE MA, with the best chance of 1″ inland. Snow likely develops after sunrise (even with the time change Saturday night) and it may not stick well to pavement with the high march sun angle. A change to rain happens within the first 1-3 hours of precipitation beginning, and showers are likely Sunday afternoon. The temperature will climb into the mid-upper 30s inland, and 40s near the coast.
I wouldn’t expect a huge warm-up next week, but it will be nicer than this week. Monday looks good with some sun and highs in the 40s. It turns colder in the midweek, but likely stays dry. As far as mid-March storms go, there could be one on the Ides of March (next Friday), and it looks like a better chance of rain than snow. There are also signs that a storm is possible in the middle of the following week – or roughly two weeks from today. As we get later into the month, snow events become more unlikely, but it’s still cold enough that if a storm takes the right track and hits at night it can produce significant snow. It’s something watch as we get closer to spring in the next two weeks.