WINTER STORM WATCH (and a messy mix)

Snow accumulation map for Saturday night
(which does not show the .1" - .25" of ice accumulation on top of this)

WINTER STORM WATCH now in effect from Saturday at 4 pm through Sunday morning for Western and Central Massachusetts and the I-91 corridor, including Amherst. Conditions have evolved since yesterday to favor a quicker start to precipitation on Saturday along with more entrenched cold at the surface - so it's going to be more intense in terms of snow and ice accumulations than predicted even yesterday. Snow is expected to start falling around 4 pm and continue, heavy at times, until about midnight. Given our recent cold temperatures, snow will quickly stick, with roads becoming snow covered rapidly. We could even see a few inches by 7 pm. After midnight a warm front will begin to move into the region, but with the arctic airmass stubborn to move out at the surface, precipitation will fall as freezing rain and sleet. We are likely to get a decent coating of freezing rain on top of the snow (as much as a tenth to a quarter-inch of ice accretion is forecast). By Sunday morning it will all turn over to rain before another cold front moves back in by Sunday evening. Altogether we are expected to get:

• 2-5 inches of snow from early evening Saturday through about midnight (higher amounts at higher elevations)
• Freezing rain and sleet from midnight through early Sunday (ice accretion of .1" - .25" in Western MA)
• 1"-1.5" of rain on Sunday - and temps rising to the mid- to high 40s by midday.

True arctic air works in for Wednesday night and Thursday, with lows in the single digits here in Amherst and even some below zero readings at higher elevations across the region.

So get ready - you're going to need really warm outerwear by mid-week, and if it doesn't warm up fast enough for you on Sunday, you'll need salt/sand, blow torch (basically whatever you use to melt ice). Winter is here to stay for a while, Sunday's freakish rise in temperatures notwithstanding!