You likely noticed the clouds have been increasing today, and this trend will continue through sunset leading to precipitation this evening. I expect a mixed bag to arrive between 5 and 8 p.m., moving from west to east. Somewhere around 6 or 7 p.m., precipitation should be heading into the greater Boston area.
The type of precipitation you’ll see will depend on where you are. This is a very marginal situation in terms of precipitation type. It's not out of the question that we could see all four major precipitation types within 30 miles. The reason for the kitchen sink version of weather is a warm tongue of air pushing in at high levels of the atmosphere this evening. This will help create the lift necessary for snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain but will also make forecasting the exact type difficult.
The trend overnight will be for the precipitation to transition to rain in all but the most northern areas. Before this happens we could see anywhere from a coating to a couple of inches of slop. If you're traveling, because temperatures will be within a few degrees of freezing, road conditions can change quickly. But I don't expect major issues.
Tomorrow there will be a sharp contrast in temperature across southern New England. The map below shows readings in the lower 20s west of Route 128, but still in the lower 30s south of Boston. This type of setup can evolve into icy conditions fairly quickly as temperatures drop rapidly. Do not underestimate how quickly roads can become icy with even just a small amount of glaze.
The risk for icing continues Thursday night with some additional light precipitation. You should be careful stepping out Friday morning as walkways could be icy. Again, this is not a major situation by any means. But untreated surfaces can become very hazardous with the thinnest of coatings. On Friday readings should get above freezing in greater Boston as sunshine returns.
It becomes quite cold for Saturday morning with readings in the single digits west of the city. It will only reach the 20s Saturday afternoon. There could be a few snow showers on Sunday and it will not be as cold. There may be another messy weather system before we conclude February. Winter may not have been bad so far, but it isn’t over yet.
