Expecting up to 8 inches of snow across the region, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for cities and towns on the Massachusetts coast between 5 p.m. Monday and noon Tuesday.

“The height of the storm will be about midnight [Monday] through 9 a.m. [Tuesday] ... Leading up to and including the morning commute,” said William Babcock, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “There could be some snow in the air at the time of the Monday evening commute.”