As of 7 a.m. Monday morning, a strong low pressure area was centered a few hundred miles south of Nantucket, and continuing to move off toward the northeast. The satellite photograph of the storm shows it wrapped up in a classic Nor’easter fashion.
These types of storms are akin to a winter hurricane, and while the center of this storm has cold air with it unlike a hurricane with warm air, they are in many ways similar.
Bands of heavy snow will continue to rotate in from the ocean for the first half of the day. The heaviest bands will likely occur from Boston down to Providence and point south and east. This doesn’t mean that if you’re north of this line you’re not going to see heavy snow. It just won’t be as heavy.
Wind will continue to ramp up through the morning before peaking around 10 a.m. to noon, and then slowly start to subside this afternoon from west to east. For you folks on Cape Cod, it will continue to be windy with damaging winds possible into the afternoon.
Power outages are already evident and increasing, especially over southeastern Massachusetts, but also in the MetroWest as well as the North Shore. Lots of power outages from Lynn up through Hamilton this morning. These power outages will likely peak this afternoon before crews are able to at least begin the process of restoring power. It will take several days in some areas.
At Logan Airport, no flights are expected today due to the snowstorm, although the decisions are up to individual airlines and the FAA, according to a spokesperson as of 8 a.m. “Our goal is to keep one runway open for emergencies and diversions, though with the high winds and whiteout conditions, that may not be possible,” the spokesperson said.
Total snow predictions around Boston
Total accumulation from the storm is likely to be in the 12-to-16-inch range around greater Boston, with up to two feet to the south in some of those heavier bands. This doesn’t mean some area near Boston couldn’t exceed 16 inches as predicting the exact location of mesoscale bands is difficult.
Coastal flooding in the minor to perhaps slightly moderate range will occur at the time of high tide this afternoon. This, however, is not a Nor’easter that’s going to bring damaging coastal flooding. Nevertheless, there will be some significant beach erosion because of the strong winds and wave action. This is typical for Nor’easters.
The snow has been heavy and wet over Southeastern Massachusetts and even sticky from the route 495 belt East. As temperatures fall the snow will tend to lighten in texture a little bit especially this afternoon but so much will have already stuck to the trees.
There could be some significant tree damage over southeastern Massachusetts, where the heaviest snow does fall. The town of Barnstable reported that as of 7 a.m., it had seen “a significant number of reports of downed trees — with more anticipated — many involving utility wires.” The town said it must wait until utility companies clear the downed wires on roadways before it can plow.
We’ll have to wait and see how things look tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow it will be mostly sunny and breezy with temperatures near freezing. Another weather system brings some snow or mixed precipitation on Wednesday, but that should be light. Right now the weekend is looking a bit better with temperatures in the 40s.
Lastly, once the storm ends we can look back at the hourly observations at various locations. For those observations where the wind was sustained at 35 mph or greater for 3 hours in a row and the visibility was a quarter mile or less because of the snow, it will be an official blizzard. Even if it’s not an official blizzard where you are, it’s still quite a snowstorm.
GBH Senior Digital Editor Don Seiffert contributed to this report.
