By Saqib Saleem Qureshi
With the odds looking more likely that parts of Massachusetts could see up to a foot of snow on Sunday, more precipitation in the days after appears possible, forecasters said.
As of Thursday, the National Weather Service said it sees a possibility for a warming trend to start on Tuesday followed by heavy rain and strong winds on Wednesday. The recent snowfall could add a new problem to this system.
According to the News Thursday that Springfield has a 60% chance of snow on Tuesday, part of a “potential winter storm.” The expectation is conditions will be cloudy with a chance for snow starting in the afternoon, before evolving into all rain overnight.
Temperatures in Springfield should see a high of 37 degrees during the day and only drop down to 35 in the evening, the Weather Channel said.
Elsewhere in the region, North Adams could also see “a little snow in the afternoon,” according to AccuWeather. Pittsfield is also on track to see wet snow Tuesday afternoon. Springfield and North Adams could see less than 1 inch of snow, while Pittsfield could see 1 inch of snow. By the Wednesday after, all three cities should see some rain before sunshine returns on Thursday.
But compared with the Sunday storm, forecasters are not certain about the snowstorm potential on Tuesday, with confidence in it being low, National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Pederson told MassLive. Tuesday could turn out rainier than Sunday, he said.
“Generally, that 24 to 36-hour window is when we’re getting into our higher confidence,” he said. “...Generally with any system when you’re five to six days out or more, the variability with any models make it difficult to say with certainty how much snow will fall. But as we get closer, the confidence increases.”