Winter's Return - Mount Washington Observatory

Winter’s Return

2015-01-22 19:23:46.000 – Caleb Meute, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

Great news for skiers and snow lovers across New Hampshire as high pressure looks to remain in the forecast into the weekend before low pressure and unsettled weather will eventually make a return. This means that skies will be mostly clear tonight through Friday night and temperatures will be below freezing, allowing ski resorts to continue to build onto their existing snowpack.

This weekend looks quite interesting as we have two separate areas of low pressure which will make their ways towards New England potentially dropping accumulating snow throughout much of New Hampshire. The center of low pressure which will be moving up the eastern seaboard will bring bountiful moisture into New England, and with a quick moving low diving down from Canada, much colder air will be introduced as well. While these are the ingredients that can lead to a major snowstorm for New England, everything is not quite in place per the most recent forecast models. The area of low pressure moving up the eastern seaboard currently looks like it will take a track well offshore in the Gulf of Maine which would likely only result in measurable snowfall for areas in southern New Hampshire. With that being said, the path the low will be traveling is still uncertain. If the path of the low tracks further to the west along the East Coast then this will allow for snow accumulation to extend further into New Hampshire. As of today, it looks like the snow over southern New Hampshire will begin during the early evening hours on Saturday and will last into Sunday morning.

Saturday January 24 7AM: Surface map showing the two separate low pressure systems approaching New England. The low over the Carolina Coast will eventually take the energy from the Canadian low pressure system which will help it to intensify as it moves into the Gulf of Maine. Image courtesy of www.accuweather.com

Saturday Jan 24 7PM: Surface map showing the center of low pressure which begins to intensify offshore leading to potential snowfall over southern New Hampshire. Image courtesy of www.accuweather.com

With a very active pattern developing, another potential snowstorm will develop over the Mid-Atlantic during the beginning of the next workweek which could potentially lead to another significant snowstorm over New England. Needless to say, a quiet winter thus far is finally showing signs of life and if this pattern continues, ski resorts across New Hampshire will make out quite well.

Caleb Meute, Weather Observer/Education Specialist

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