Accumulating snow, possibly record-breaking cold in the Boston weather forecast this weekend
We've got yet another cold and snowy weekend on tap in Boston. The WBZ Weather Team has issued a NEXT Weather Alert for Saturday and Sunday for a winter hodgepodge of snow, wind and cold.
This will be the fourth consecutive weekend that our team has declared some sort of winter weather-related alert.
Oddly enough, the four coldest days this winter in Boston have all come on either a Friday or Saturday. This time, the cold will bottom out on Sunday.
Snow timeline for Massachusetts
Snow will arrive before dawn on Saturday. This will be a rather unorganized snow event. At any given time, there may be places where snow is falling and accumulating fairly rapidly while other areas are just seeing light flurries or nothing at all.
Most of the snow will fall during the daylight hours on Saturday between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Untreated roadways will become snow-covered and slippery during this timeframe.
The snow will taper off by late afternoon with just a few final snow showers remaining.
How much snow?
We expect an inch or two of accumulation for most of southern New England. However, we do anticipate some heavier snow bands to form and drop as much as 3 or 4" in isolated areas.
Right now, it appears the highest likelihood of greater than 2" is along the coastline due to some possible ocean-enhancement.
Cold and wind
The snow departs Saturday evening, and the winds start to howl. Northwest winds will gust between 20-40 mph across southern New England Saturday night into Sunday.
During the day Sunday, we will see a slight decrease in wind speeds, down to between 20-30 mph.
Combine the gusty wind and the very cold air temperatures and it will feel like -20 to -10 degrees for most of the day Sunday.
Frostbite can form on exposed skin in these conditions in less than 30 minutes.
We even have a shot at a record low, maximum temperature on Sunday. Boston and Worcester will be within a few degrees of the current cold records set back in the late 1990's.
Super Bowl weather forecast
One final thought: As you settle in on the couch on Sunday to watch our beloved New England Patriots, you can dream of warmer climates, like California.
The difference in air temperatures between Boston and Santa Clara on Sunday afternoon, just about 50 degrees. It will be 66 degrees in Santa Clara compared to 16 in Boston.
Factor in the wind chill and we are talking about a 70-degree swing.
