Several inches of snow are expected to blanket Massachusetts in the coming days.
A nor’easter will barrel through the state and much of southern New England on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing heavy snow and winds as well as minor coastal flooding to the region, according to the National Weather Service.
Set to be the biggest winter storm yet this season, the nor’easter will hit the interior of the state the hardest, battering Western and Central Massachusetts with as much as 12-18 inches of snow, the federal agency said.
“They have a better chance of receiving more snow,” Rodney Chai, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Boston/Norton office, said about the interior of the state. “At this point in Eastern Massachusetts, up to a foot is expected. Once you get to Worcester and west from there, you could get more than a foot of snow.”
The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for nearly all of the commonwealth, excluding Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, ahead of the nor’easter’s arrival Wednesday evening.
Driving conditions could become hazardous during the major weather event, and officials are urging the public to keep off the roads at the height of the storm.
“Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” the weather service said. “The hazardous conditions could impact overnight travel as well as the Thursday morning commute. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.”
Snow will develop over most of the state around 7 p.m. and grow heavier and more widespread overnight into early Thursday, falling at speedy rates of 1-2 inches per hour at various points, according to the agency.
Currently, the nor’easter is hovering over the Mid-Atlantic states and moving slowly but surely toward southern New England. The Boston/Norton weather service is “still in the forecasting stage right now,” Chai noted.
In the days and hours leading up to any major winter storm, the weather service releases images with updated forecasts about the meteorological event, predicting everything from localized snowfall totals by city and town to the strength of wind gusts.
According to the weather service predictions about Gail, the storm should bring 8-12 inches of snow to nearly all of Eastern Massachusetts, including Greater Boston as well as Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Bristol counties.
Lesser amounts are forecast on the Cape and Islands, where a range of less than an inch to as much as 6 inches of snow is anticipated, officials said.
A closer look at the regions
At the municipal level, forecasters are expecting 14 inches of snow in Springfield, 13 inches in Worcester, 12 inches in Boston and 5 inches in Hyannis.
Looking at the winter weather forecast in Western Massachusetts, 14 inches of snow is expected in North Adams and Greenfield, while 15 inches is predicted in Great Barrington and Amherst. Pittsfield should see as much as 16 inches.
In Central Massachusetts, 13 inches of snow is forecast in Fitchburg, and in the eastern half of the state, officials are forecasting 8 inches in Plymouth, 9 inches in New Bedford, 10 inches in Lawrence, 11 inches in Gloucester, Newburyport and Taunton and 12 inches in Bedford and Foxborough.
On the Cape and Islands, Nantucket should receive minimal to no accumulations. Forecasters are expecting only an inch in Chatham, 2 inches on Martha’s Vineyard and 3 inches in Provincetown.
Images from the weather service show there is a 62% likelihood of 12 inches or more of snow accumulating in Springfield and Worcester, 54% in Boston and 0% in Hyannis.
“The snow, because of how cold it is outside, will be on the dry, fluffy side,” Chai said. “Having said that, the snow will come down heavy. There could be scattered power outages, especially along the south coast, where the snow will be on the wetter side.”
However, electrical losses will not be as much of an issue as they were during the previous winter storm in early December that dumped more than 6 inches of snow on several Bay State communities, Chai said.
The larger anxiety on the minds of forecasters ahead of Wednesday and Thursday’s nor’easter is the storm’s impact on roadways, according to the meteorologist.
“The bigger concern we have, because it’s so cold to begin with, it’s going to accumulate on all surfaces, including roads,” he said. “This will make driving conditions hazardous.”
Flash freezes pose another concern, Chai added, especially in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In each area, snow is expected to mix with rain for periods of time. A sudden cold front forecast early Thursday will then cause temperatures to plummet, leading to icy conditions.
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