Everything But Snow

Wednesday will be a stormy day in Connecticut. This is a big systems and it will be tossing its weight around!

As I type this (Tuesday at 4:00 PM) there are three Tornado Watch areas, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, scattered Winter Storm Warnings and all sorts of flood and wind warnings from this singular system. Most of what’s up in Connecticut today (Tuesday) has been issued in anticipation of tomorrow.

Not so fast Litchfield County.

Light rain starts later tonight statewide. In the Litchfield Hills there’s a chance some of that rain will fall as a liquid, but freeze on contact. There’s a Freezing Rain Advisory for Litchfield, but only until 10:00 PM. That’s because this storm is packed with advection!

ad·vec·tion (d-vkshn) n. The transfer of a property of the atmosphere, such as heat, cold, or humidity, by the horizontal movement of an air mass.

There will be enough warmer air headed our way that temperatures will rise through the night. That’s why the advisory expires at 10:00 PM.

By midday Wednesday the intensity of the rain picks up. Thunderstorms seem probable.

From my trips outside with Doppler I can assure you the ground is frozen or close to it. Little of this rain will ‘perc.’ Flooding from runoff is likely, especially near small brooks and streams and on low lying roads.

By Wednesday evening the wind begins to pick up. Winds of 15-30 mph with higher gusts are likely. Scattered limbs and power lines will fall.

Windblown rain: No fun!

The rain ends Thursday morning, but not before we get a lot–probably an inch or two. Meanwhile, the wind will continue to howl and the mercury will plunge.

On one of my forecasting charts the graph for temperature resembles the climb to the first hill on a roller coaster. Steady up, then a plunge down! We’ll hit Thursday’s high temperature at midnight then tumble for most of the next 48 hours. Low 50s Wednesday, but 20s and low 30s for the high Friday!

The funny thing is, this late January storm will bring everything but snow.

Maybe not funny. Quirky?

There are chances for light snow Saturday and Monday nights. Let’s get through tomorrow first.

8 thoughts on “Everything But Snow”

  1. But, the sun is out longer every day. There is light and warmth at the end of the tunnel, and we can sense that it’s coming. It would be nice to skip February, though.

  2. Geoff, I was afraid we’d heard the last from you after last Nov! Very glad to see your blog up and running. I hope all is well with you and your family. Any plans to attempt an on-air comeback? I think you have plenty of folks who would love to see you back in front of the camera!

  3. It has been crazy here in Portsmouth, Nh too Geoff – the temperature has gone from 38 at 1:30 p.m. to 53 as of 5 minutes ago.
    We no longer have snow in the front yard – we have mud!

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