Arctic Air On the Move

Wednesday January 27, 2010 07:00 AM

Get out there and enjoy the sunshine and relatively mild air today as a major change is on the way over the next 36 hours.

A strong arctic cold front will barrel southeastward across the Great Lakes and New England tonight and tomorrow, passing through Southern New England Thursday evening. Out ahead of this frontal system, lines of snow showers and/or rain showers transitioning to snow showers will push across the region. Some embedded heavier snow squalls are possible as well. A brief coating of snow is possible here on the Cape Thursday evening as the arctic front arrives, which could lead to some icy spots on local roadways.

The bigger story is likely to be the cold and wind that arrives Thursday night and lasts into the weekend. On Friday, the brunt of the cold will drop down into New England. Temperatures will struggle to rise as the cold air pours in, with readings likely holding steady around 20°F during the day, before falling well down into the 10s Friday night. Strong northwest winds gusting to 40 mph will create very low wind chills. - original image courtesy of HPC.