Thursday, 4:30 PM
Snow expected to begin tonight, may complicate Friday's commute
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
This isn't Los Angeles, where snow and sleet crippled traffic on Interstate 5 in the mountains above Malibu, but that doesn't mean Massachusetts can't do winter.
Starting tonight at 8 p.m., the first significant snowfall of the season is expected to dump one to three inches of the white stuff in metropolitan Boston west of Route 128. The storm is expected to continue until early Friday, hitting the early commute with a blast of snow before tapering out after 10 a.m.
"This is what we would expect in Mid-January," said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. "I don't think people will have completely forgotten what it is."
East of Route 128 and in the city of Boston, warmer temperatures should make the precipitation a slushy mix of rain, snow, and sleet, Foley said.
The weather station at Logan International Airport has only recorded 0.8 inches of snow this winter, Foley said. The average total of snow most winters is 41.8 inches.
When the storm blows over Boston and moves on to Canada, a polar air mass will plunge Massachusetts back into sub-zero temperatures. On Saturday and Sunday, winds whipping up to 35 mph will make it feel as cold as 15 degrees below zero, Foley said.
