A major winter storm is expected to bring between 12 to 20 inches of snow to most of Massachusetts Sunday into Monday.
That’s a pretty big range, so how much should you expect your town to get? And who’s going to get the most snow?
There are many factors to consider that complicate the official WBZ-TV snow forecast – the amount of sleet and how long it will last, the coastal front sweeping through, the fluff factor, wind direction, heavy snow bands, and mild ocean temperatures.
Let’s look at what we have so far.
Boston, North Shore and Upper South Shore
We feel pretty confident with our forecast here. I would guess that these towns end up in the middle or higher end of the 12-20″ range.
There are some coastal front factors in here too, with temperatures warming up 10 degrees or more Sunday night. There is a significant chance that on Monday, some bands of snow will rotate from north to south over this area. This could end up pushing some towns here over the 20″ mark.
Therefore, we have labeled this area as a potential “jackpot” zone. This is exactly what happened in the Presidents’ Day storm in 2003. A last-gasp, localized band of snow dumped several inches in Boston, pushing the city over the record for a single snowstorm previously held by the Blizzard of 1978.
South of the Mass. Pike, including South Shore, Norfolk County
This area is within our 12″-20″ zone.
But the WBZ weather team is concerned about a few things in this area…