Sunset to sunrise snow – Boston News, Weather, Sports

While the snow will begin this afternoon, temperatures will stay above freezing and limit the accumulation for the first few hours. But as soon as the sun sets tonight, temperatures will drop and we’ll start to make snow fast. A winter storm warning is in effect for later today and tonight for several inches of snow on the way, especially areas north and west of Boston where totals look to eclipse half a foot.

Most towns should see at least 6″ of snow with 6-8″ being most common across the area. Boston, I’d lean on 6″ and Worcester the 8″, possibly 9″ with some added elevation. It’s a light and fluffy snow so it’ll stack up pretty easily. Good news about that is while that may aid in higher totals, it’s also easier to move on Monday morning.

While you’ll notice light snow and flurries breaking out late in the afternoon, temperatures will be above freezing which will limit the accumulation… at least initially. Once the sun goes down, temperatures will cool off and we’ll start to accumulate fast. So if you need to run errands or travel, it’s best to do it before sunset tonight or shortly after, say 5-6pm to be safe. While some light flurries may linger tomorrow morning, 95% of the snow will be over by 5am and certainly all of the accumulation.

So you saw the snow map above, how do we get to those numbers? Like I said before, while snow will start falling this afternoon, we won’t accumulate much if anything. Everything happens after sunset and once it starts accumulating, it stacks up fast. Here’s how Boston and Worcester get to those storm totals by tomorrow morning. At times, it’ll snow 1-2″ per hour.

Once the snow wraps up, it’s going to stick around for a while as a blast of cold air moves in for the week ahead. Below are your actual air temperatures with overnight lows falling to near zero and afternoon wind chills near zero for Tuesday and Wednesday. Brr!