Sunday rainfall will gave way to overnight snow

Sunday rainfall will gave way to overnight snow

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There was about 1 inch or less of snow forecast at Logan International Airport in Boston on Monday, and an additional 1 to 2 inches between Interstate 95 and Interstate 495, Kyle Pederson, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said Sunday night. Another 3 to 5 inches of snow was expected north and west of Interstate 495, between Worcester and Newburyport.

Rain mixed with snow fell over an area from Northeast Connecticut to just south of Boston just before 7 p.m. and then transitioned to all snow at about 8:30 p.m., Pederson said.

The overnight snowfall will likely affect the commute in Greater Boston, according to the weather service.

“People ought to allow a little extra time to reach their destination, especially if they’re coming in from west or northwest of the city,” Dunham said.

Though Boston is slated to get less than an inch of total snowfall, higher-terrain portions of the state, including the Berkshires and the hilly parts of the Worcester area, could see 4 to 6 inches of snow, with some local snowfalls in western Massachusetts approaching 8 inches, according to Matthew Belk, a forecaster with the weather service.

A winter storm warning is in effect for northern Worcester County and northwestern Middlesex County, Dunham said.

“So, they’ll be seeing more snow out there,” Dunham said.

The south coast of Massachusetts could get about an inch of rain, Dunham said.

“This is the type of storm you get in the wintertime, Dunham said. “Sometimes it’s cold enough for all snow, sometimes rain.”

There were 1,174 pieces of equipment out patrolling, spreading, or plowing roadways across the state Sunday night, the Massachusetts Départment of Transportation said on social media.

Boston saw “predominantly rain” Sunday, with bouts of a wintry mix, Belk said.

By 11:30 a.m., snow had begun to fall in parts of Cambridge and Allston, though it appeared to melt upon hitting the wet pavement. Later, the snow turned into a mix of sleet of rain.

Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue Mall earlier this month.Lane Turner/Globe Staff

Though temperatures in Boston are not forecast to dip below freezing until Monday evening, windchills in the mid- to low 20s are expected after 6 p.m., according to the weather service.

In Worcester, temperatures will fall below freezing around 3 a.m. Monday, according to the weather service, and windchills will stay below 30 degrees from noon Sunday onward.

Worcester announced a winter parking ban starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, during which parking is prohibited downtown, on either side of main arteries, and emergency and bus routes. Parking is restricted to the odd-numbered sides of all other streets, and residents can check the status of their streets online, the city manager said in a release.

Parking will be free in all municipal garages starting at 3 p.m., according to the release.

By sunrise Monday, though, there will be only a slight chance of snow still falling west of Worcester, Belk said.

“Then that focus is going to shift down towards southeast Massachusetts as we get into Monday afternoon, where we’ll have a northeast wind, and there’s a possibility of some ocean-effect snow,” Belk said. “And that would be where southeast Massachusetts, the Cape and the islands, maybe get their little bit of snow.”

Ocean-effect snow, Belk said, is when cold air forms over relatively warm ocean water, creating wind with enough lift and moisture to generate bands of snowfall. “It generates kind of its own little microclimate,” Belk said.

That eastern snowfall is unlikely to stick, Belk said, as temperatures in the high 30s into the 40s are forecast on the Cape starting early Monday.

“If the ground’s wet, it’s generally not going to accumulate much,” Belk said. “The snow will melt as soon as it hits the liquid water on the ground.”

To the west, the Sunday night snow will likely stick around until Wednesday or Thursday, Belk said, when temperatures rise above 40 degrees.

By 11 p.m., 211 flights out of Logan International Airport were delayed and 18 were cancelled, according to FlightAware.

Belk said Sunday’s snowfall would generally be wet and heavy, which may make shoveling arduous.

“Sledding snow? Maybe not as much,” Belk said. “I’m not a skier, but [it will be] maybe not as good for those activities.”

Wet snow typically increases the risk of power outages, since it can weigh heavily on power lines, according to Bill Leatham, another forecaster with the weather service.

But he said the weather service is “not expecting widespread power outages at this point.”

Strong winds also increase the risk of outages, Leatham said, but the agency is not anticipating especially powerful gusts overnight. He said western parts of the state may see windspeeds around 25 to 30 miles per hour, but the strongest gusts — capping around 35 to 40 miles per hour — will be on the Cape and islands, where minimal snowfall is expected.

Spokespeople for both National Grid and Eversource said they had crews ready to respond to possible service interruptions.

“Typically wind is the largest concern,” said Jamie Ratliff, a spokesperson for Eversource. Heavy snow is another factor, as it can cause tree limbs and branches to fall onto electrical equipment, she said.

Globe correspondent Adam Sennott contributed to this report.


Daniel Kool can be reached at daniel.kool@globe.com. Follow him @dekool01.



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