We’re not dealing with a big storm Friday into Saturday but we could likely be dealing with BIG impacts especially across northern Connecticut. There’s a pretty significant signature for freezing rain and ice accretion Friday evening into early Saturday morning with a cold ground, a cold high to our north and temperatures Friday morning starting well below freezing.
Light precipitation moves in during the afternoon on Friday that may start as some wet snow in inland CT and a mix along the shoreline but should quickly switch over to a mix/rain as warmer air rushes. A coating a snow is possible in far northern CT before the switch over, but it isn’t a major concern. The issue with this setup is that there will be a layer of air above our heads that is higher than 32°F which will turn any snow flakes into just plain rain during the late afternoon on Friday. However, the concern is at the surface. Temperatures will be under 32° degrees across much of Connecticut which will mean any rain that falls will likely freeze on contact with untreated surfaces especially less traveled roads, sidewalks, parking lots and driveways.
I grabbed this sounding from Tropicaltidbits.com which shows the area of air above our heads that is higher than 32°F which will melt any snow to rain but look at the surface temperatures, 26°F! At first the cold air will be very stubborn but eventually the warm air will be too much and surface temps will climb above 32°F during the morning on Saturday. However, before that happens we are expecting ice to accumulate and cause issues on the roads.
I put together a map below that shows the areas where we’re expecting the worst conditions to occur. I added major highways and many towns and cities as well. Areas in the darker purple can expect freezing rain Friday evening into early Saturday morning. The lighter purple or pink shows areas that the warmer air reaches first so Friday evening may be icy but it won’t linger into Saturday morning as long. Areas that don’t have any shading are not out of the woods though. Still expect some icy spots late Friday afternoon into early Friday evening but the warmer air will win out faster, especially right near the shoreline with a south wind!
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