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Snow showers expected through the night

Print | Comments () Posted by John Ellement December 22, 2010 06:25 PM

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Bill Greene/Globe Staff

Maura Webster of Marlborough caught a snowflake on her tongue this afternoon as she and her daughter Emma, 4, returned to their car after Christmas shopping at Shopper's World in Framingham.

By L. Finch, Globe Correspondent

Snow will continue to drift down and slicken roads in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state tonight as rotating bands of snow showers, jutting from the same storm system that bedeviled Monday's Boston-area commute, move through the area, forecasters said.

Flurries should continue into Thursday morning, giving those near the coast up to three inches of snow and inland areas about an inch, said William Babcock, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton. Just before 6 p.m., some observers in Bristol County were already reporting 2 inches had accumulated.

The bands from that storm system, hovering about 1,000 miles off the coast, are “like spokes on a bicycle wheel,” Babcock said. “Once the first one moves out, that next batch of snow showers that’s moving down comes in.”

Bristol County, Plymouth County, and the Cape and islands should experience the most snowfall, he said.

As temperatures drop to freezing and below tonight, the snow will accumulate on untreated roads and lead to slippery conditions, forecasters warned. The Globe's traffic information provider found traffic slow this evening on some major arteries, but reported no accidents. State Police said late tonight that they were also unaware of any major problems on the roads.

The flurries are expected to end by morning, followed by a batch of calm weather through Christmas Day, meteorologist Charlie Foley said. Another storm system churning up the coast could drop snow on New England Sunday night into Monday. But it is too early to tell what, if anything, the storm will actually do, Foley said.

“It has the potential to bring a lot of choices,” Foley said. “No snow, a dusting, a couple of inches, or it could be major storm.”