AM WEATHER UPDATE: Blizzard Watch Expands—Hits Central Mass Friday AM

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Thursday, February 07, 2013

John Ghiorse, GoLocalWorcester Meteorologist

As Winter Storm Nemo creeps up the East Coast, the so-called "Son of the Blizzard of '78" is poised to dump up to two feet of snow on the region and bring blizzard-like conditions.The Blizzard Watch has been extended westward by the National Weather Service to now include Central and Eastern Connecticut and Central Massachusetts and eastward to include Cape Cod and the Islands. The Blizzard Watch continues posted for Rhode Island and the rest of Eastern Massachusetts.

Remarkably there has been little change in my thinking overnight as new data continues to pour in. The model prediction data has been very consistent and insistent on a major snowfall of 1-2 feet or so over most of the area. The one wild card I continue to see at this point is will there be a mix or change to sleet and rain during the middle of the storm Friday night and early Saturday and if it does occur, how far inland will it penetrate? Quite frankly there’s now way to know for sure until the storm gets underway. There is virtually no chance that there will be a mix or change here in the Worcester area.

I still see snow beginning here tomorrow morning, becoming heavier in the afternoon and evening and slowly winding down on Saturday. The peak snowfall intensity should occur Friday night and early Saturday morning. I will have another update this afternoon.