A beautiful – but very cold – weekend will be followed by a multi-day winter.
Low temperatures will remain at the single digit home again this morning in southeastern New England, making it the first consecutive single digit days since January 30 and January 31, 2019.
But at least the wind is relaxing as we warm up to almost 20 degrees in southern New England this afternoon.
There is a lot of sun, except in the northern mountains, where we have clouds and snowfalls, and on the outside of Cape Cod also with clouds and snowfalls.
The high pressure moves well over us tonight, creating a large, beautiful, bright moon and the planets and stars must appear bright with a mass of clean, dry air.
Again, you should prepare for an outdoor hike, with temperatures dropping to one digit to the south and well below zero in the north on Sunday morning.
Dr. Ali Raja, of Massachusetts General Hospital, says that when it gets so cold, it’s amazing how quickly hypothermia can really come on.
“I love the cold. I’m fine with the cold, ”said Ron Ribitzky, a Newton resident, who was in line at the outdoor cashier at Harvey’s Ace Hardware in Needham so he could catch melted ice before the nor’easter.
“It’s New England in the winter, so I’m not surprised,” said Jessica Tolman of Needham.
The cold wind failed to keep Mia Daoust out of the afternoon race.
“The first three kilometers were very cold, but now I’m warming up,” she said.
Daoust runs in this cold with light clothes and she says that it is more pleasant than it looks.
“I think it is good during the race. You don’t get too hot and it’s easier to breathe, ”she said.
But that kind of deep freeze can quickly turn into a medical emergency for anyone, according to Dr. Ali Raja of Massachusetts General Hospital.
“When it gets so cold, it’s amazing how quickly hypothermia can really kick in,” he said. “Even a few minutes away from home without exposed skin and without warm clothing can result in a drop in core body temperature.”
The city of Boston opened a dozen heating centers this weekend to help fight the cold. They close every night at 6pm.
The intense cold made Boston freeze on Friday, with temperatures barely reaching double digits.
In terms of climate, Sunday looks great, with lots of sun and light wind. High temperatures will reach 30 degrees north and 20 degrees south, with rising clouds in the afternoon.
The storm system that dropped 2.5 meters of snow on Mammoth Mountain in California is crossing the country and will be on our doorstep Monday morning.
At that time, it will be snowing heavily from Philadelphia to New York City, with a wall of moderate to heavy snow falling from south to north in southern New England.
We will probably have a few inches of snow in the early hours, before switching to rain along the coast near Cape Cod.
For most of central and southern New England, it looks like an 8-10 hour strip of heavy snow from Monday to early Tuesday, so it’s probably an 8-10 inch snowfall – for a approximate initial estimate.
Low pressure will move from Pennsylvania, then develop again south of Long Island and slowly move closer to Nantucket.
An upper level drop will stagnate overhead with several low-pressure surface systems rippling from south to north across the Gulf of Maine. That means tracks of heavy snow, with rain on the coast on Tuesday evening.
The coastal wind from the east and northeast will pass 80 kilometers per hour on Monday night and the first hour on Tuesday. There is a chance of weaker south wind from Boston to Cape Cod on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching almost 40 degrees and snow turning to drizzle.
Otherwise, further inland, the snow tracks will continue on Tuesday, with the heaviest buildup right now in the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
There may be a hole in the middle of precipitation amounts, with smaller amounts in southern Vermont, western Massachusetts and western New Hampshire. But for much of New England, we can end up with a 10-20 inch snowfall – where all snow remains.
The wind will return from the north on Tuesday night, perhaps with ice conditions returning to the south and east coastlines. Wednesday is probably a cold gray day before a little sun on Thursday. Thursday night, a warm front will bring a mixture of rain and snow, followed by a big warm up at the end of the week, with the possibility of heavy rain as we head for the next weekend.
It’s a very busy 10-day First Alert forecast.