Going to opening day of Mass. pot shops? Prepare to stand in rain and snow

Rolls of hay in a field at a hay farm in Concord are covered in snow after a snowstorm last week. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe

If you plan to join the opening day crowds outside the state’s two recreational pot shops on Tuesday, prepare for a wintry, wet mix.

Both Leicester and Northampton — where Cultivate and New England Treatment Access will respectively become the first recreational marijuana shops in the Eastern United States — are expecting a couple inches of snow.

And when it’s not snowing, it will likely be raining and just above freezing temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.

“Not good weather for standing around outside,” weather service meteorologist Alan Dunham said.

A rain-snow mix will begin in the early morning and change into snow in the afternoon, Dunham said. Northampton is expected to get between 1 and 3 inches, and Leicester can expect about 2 to 4 inches.

When the first customers get in line, the temperature will likely be about 31 degrees, Dunham said.

The snow could taper off by the end of the afternoon, but temperatures will stay cold.

“You get damp with those kind of temperatures, it’s going to be kind of miserable,” Dunham said.

Sam Barber, the president of Cultivate in Leicester, said they’ll do everything to keep customers comfortable while waiting outside, including heated tents, music, and food.

“A little bit of snow shouldn’t hold us back,” Barber said in a press conference on Monday.

Officials in NETA said they will be handing out hot coffee to keep customers warm.

A winter weather advisory is in effect in portions of north-central and western Massachusetts, from 10 p.m. on Monday to 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The advisory warns drivers of slippery roads and other hazardous conditions.