HARDWICK – The steady pace of accumulating snow continued across the region over the past week. Even though we were expecting a weekend snowstorm with higher accumulating amounts, we did pretty well on the accumulation side from multiple rounds of light snow. As of yesterday morning, there was a total of a foot and a half of snow on the ground in lower elevations, with some of our higher elevations near 2,000 feet reporting upwards of 30 inches of snowpack depth. High temperatures remained mostly in the 20s, with single-digit readings above zero for most nights, meeting our average temperatures for the month. The exception to that was Thursday and Friday mornings, where temperatures plummeted to as much as 10 degrees below zero.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
We start Wednesday with partly sunny conditions and a few high clouds, which will thicken and lower by afternoon. Overnight, a low pressure system approaching from the Ohio River Valley will take a path over the western Great Lakes and into the lower St. Lawrence River Valley. This places us in the southeastern corridor of the storm, bringing steadier and lighter precipitation as well as warmer conditions. Temperatures will start in the single numbers early, before moderating overnight. Precipitation on Thursday morning will start as some light snow, that may briefly change over to sleet or freezing rain mid-afternoon on Thursday as some warmer air overruns cold air just above the surface. A trailing cold front crosses by evening with another band of snow showers to wrap everything up.
Temperatures fall back to normal for Friday under clearing skies, but another system looks to approach later Saturday into Sunday. Models currently favor a coast-hugging track for this system, meaning conditions will be cooler and support a heavier snow. A few solutions suggest an inland track that could wrap some sleet or rain in during the peak of the system midday Sunday, but overall we expect this to be one of the heavier snow events of the season. As the system exits Sunday evening, expect temperatures to cool rapidly with lows approaching zero. Here’s a look at the forecast details:
Wednesday: Partly sunny. Increasing high clouds by afternoon. High: 21. Low: 7, with temperatures rising overnight.
Thursday: Mostly cloudy. Light snow in the morning. Light snow, sleet, or freezing rain in the afternoon, turning to all snow again by evening. Brief bursts of heavy snow in the evening. Total snow accumulations of 1 to 3 inches. Ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch. High: 32. Low: 8.
Friday: Partly sunny, becoming mostly sunny by afternoon. High: 19. Low: -3.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy. Snow developing by afternoon. Snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches by Saturday night. High: 23. Low: 15.
Sunday: Snow, possibly mixed with sleet midday. Additional snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches, with total accumulations of 6 to 11 inches. High: 28. Low: 4.
Tyler is our weather reporter and a community journalist. He works as a nurse and EMT, volunteers with Hardwick Rescue and helps to train new EMTs.
