Why We May Be in For It

Posted by Pete Bouchard

The suspense is building on the social media sites regarding the pending storm for Friday. So I'll cut to the chase.

I think it's time to prepare for the biggest storm since December 26th and 27th of 2010. For the snow hounds, your ship might have finally come in.

Here's why I think we may be in for it.

1) All this cold (for several times now this winter) and we don't have anything to show for it? Our luck has to run out sooner or later. I think this storm is the one.

2) Climatologically, this is the part of winter that features the biggest snowstorms. (See the Blizzard of '78...'nuff said.)

3) Regardless of whether the two jet streams come together, there is a tremendous amount of energy shooting into the storm. This alone should account for a strong storm center and subsequent heavy snow.

4) Typically our major snow events "creep" up on us. When the weather maps say you'll get it a week out, usually they're wrong. When they show it slowly evolving over the course of a few days, it usually pans out.

5) We've had this kind of potential in weeks past. Cold was in place, but the major lacking ingredient was moisture. With its origins "deep in the heart of Texas" and a pass through the Deep South, this storm has it.

I still bear the scars from earlier forecast flubs, so I'm hesitant to call this a blizzard. There are very few hallowed storms that fit that mold, and the title should not be used loosely. In fact, most blizzards aren't named until AFTER the event. I'll let that subject be until we are closer to Friday.

Snowfall amounts will teeter on either side of a foot, so this is hardly snowmageddon. Let's just all take a deep breath and hold off on the bread and milk for now. Two years ago, this was a run-of-the-mill storm.

Pete

Like A Waterfall

Posted by Pete Bouchard

If you were caught in those 'cloudbursts' today, you had more than you could handle in the rain department. Torrents fell in a short amount of time - what we deem 'flash flooding' in the weather biz. Since it happens suddenly, the National Weather Service has adopted the acronym TADD:

Bam! Pow!

Posted by Jeremy Reiner

Bam. Pow! Those were some nasty storms last evening with some towns in metrowest & the city itself blasted with locally heavy rain, hail, lightning and strong wind gusts. A cool front is the culprit and that front will linger across the region again today. That means another round of some scattered showers & t-storms likely.

Thunderous Start to Workweek

Posted by Pete Bouchard

Heat and a bit of humidity fed a strong - and sometimes severe - line of thunderstorms today. By the time the dinner hour rolled around (6pm-ish), the storms had consolidated into a line. Everyone got a drink of water and a big drop in temperatures - some falling nearly 20 degrees in minutes!

Rear-view Mirror

Posted by Jeremy Reiner

As we exit our recent soggy pattern we do so with one more weather system capable of producing scattered showers & t-storms. This cool front is a slow mover (aren't we all on Monday mornings?!) up in northern New England right now. This slow moving front will settle into our part of the world very late this afternoon bringing a chance of some scattered t-storms between 4-pm. Until then you have a great day with mostly sunny skies along with temperatures in the low 80s. For some, a bit on the humid side for much of the day.