First Flakes of the Season?

Monday November 17, 2008 07:18 AM

Monday Update: We've taken one small step downward in temperatures over the last 24 hours, with 2 more substantial ones to go over the course of this week. In addition to the pending cold, some snow showers are in the cards this week along with some strong gusty north winds. The initial threat at seeing our first flakes of the season is Tuesday, when the western flank of a developing ocean storm skirts the area with some light precipitation. Temperatures will be just cold enough for a mix of rain and snow showers during the day.

On the back side of this storm, north winds will increase and even colder air will be drawn southward Tuesday Night. Consequently, at the present time, Wednesday is looking like a very wintry day (relative to normal November conditions), with scattered morning snow showers, temperatures holding in the 30s, and north winds gusting to 45 mph at times - if not higher. 

Sunday: An unseasonably cold air mass will build into the Great Lakes and the Northeast this upcoming week - sending temperatures some 10 to 20 degrees below average from Tuesday through Saturday. As the extended forecast shows, highs for much of the upcoming week will struggle to get out of the 30s.

Along with the cold air will come our first chance of seeing some snow! We should see at least two chances, the first coming Tuesday as a developing ocean storm skirts the region with some light showers of snow and rain. The second opportunity comes Tuesday night and Wednesday. This particular image is taken directly from a computer model - the NAM - and shows 6-hr accumulated precipitation. Notice the green shading over parts of Cape Cod on Wednesday morning. This is indicative of the model picking up on ocean effect snow showers. Cold north to northwesterly winds will blow over the mild waters of the Gulf of Maine and Cape Cod Bay, producing our first ocean effect snow of the season. It would be quite surprising, to this forecaster anyway, if we have not seen our first flakes by the close of this week. - original image courtesy Wxcaster.