A strong cold front crossed the region Wednesday night and you likely noticed the rain and wind accompany this system. Behind the front, much colder air has arrived. Temperatures on Thursday are going to struggle out of the 30s and parts of the Worcester Hills will probably never reach 40 degrees. When you add in the gusts, wind chills will be in the teens Thursday morning and only in the 20s in the afternoon.
I don’t expect winds to be damaging, but they’re going to be busy all day gusting between 20 and 30 miles per hour for most of us — strong enough that it’s going to feel like winter.
The one difference between a day like today and the exact same conditions in January is that with the strong March sunshine, it just doesn’t seem as cold.
Additionally, the ground isn’t frozen and that higher sun angle tends to warm up the interior buildings more than it would two months ago.
I do think there’s going to be some damage to some of the early flowering trees overnight Thursday as temperatures fall back down into the 20s.
There may be some early cherry and magnolia trees that have opened just a little too much for this cold. In my own yard, I have a lindera in full bloom that could get blasted by the freezing temperatures. These types of things do happen and the good news is they don’t really hurt the plant, only the flowers.
After the cold start Friday, it will be sunny and still below average but not the same bite to the air. Temperatures will reach into the lower 40s in the afternoon ahead of our next weather system, which is a juicy one.
Weekend storm brewing
On Saturday, a low pressure will approach from the south and there’s a lot of moisture with it. As this system rides to the north, there will be enough cold air at the beginning for the precipitation to begin as a little bit of mixed snow and rain, especially across the Worcester Hills and interior portions of New Hampshire.
With 1 to 3 inches of rain Saturday into Saturday evening, there could be some street and basement flooding again, similar to what we have seen over the past few months.
Eventually, northern New England will be the only spot to really accumulate significant snow and the mountains could see anywhere from 6 inches to perhaps as much as a foot of snow in some of the higher elevations, depending on the exact track of the system.
