A Little Snow Is on the Way, and then Maybe a White Christmas
Some light snow and freezing rain is forecast for Boston on Friday.
An approximation of outcomes thru this evening (courtesy of the 9z HRRR); bulk of impacts remain over N/E areas of S New England with snow, some areas transitioning to freezing rain (as noted in pink); OVERALL, if traveling, check the latest radar & forecast first before you go pic.twitter.com/7vI77ZJsqL
— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) December 22, 2017
Boston could see a light dusting of snow and then possibly some freezing rain on Friday, the National Weather Service predicts. And depending on where you’re spending the holiday, a white Christmas could be in your future.
“Most of what you hear about will be north and west of the city,” says Bill Simpson, meteorologist with at the NWS in Taunton.
Those living around Fitchburg and Lowell are likely to see more significant snowfall, Simpson says.
But in Boston the weather system headed to the city is likely to drop at most an inch or two of snow, then hit warm air and turn to rain, Simpson says, making driving conditions a little treacherous on a day when traffic is expected to be particularly high.
MassDOT says more than 600 crews were treating roads in the state at around 8 a.m., and is warning drivers to “travel with caution.”
#MAsnow crews 8am total 604 treating, plowing state roads as needed west, central, northeast. Travel with caution today, #DontCrowdThePlow pic.twitter.com/t4WqqC6PnN
— Mass. Transportation (@MassDOT) December 22, 2017
Sloppy conditions are expected to continue into the weekend, and the NWS is forecasting some possible ice on Saturday morning.
Simpson says he doesn’t foresee serious disruptions at Logan Airport. “This is not limiting visibility too much so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue,” he says.
A second weather system bound for Massachusetts is slated to arrive Sunday into Monday, Christmas Day, with the odds of snow in the Boston area currently listed at 70-80 percent (the odds get better the further north you go). “There’s a chance of a white Christmas, it appears,” Simpson says.
Since a variety of precip types are expected into the weekend, here's how temperatures affect the type of precipitation that falls, as well as safety reminders for freezing rain. pic.twitter.com/9HfHoVZAVY
— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) December 22, 2017
