1st snowstorm of the season moving into Massachusetts

Well, this feels more like November. The chill has settled back in, which means that it was only a matter of time before we’d be talking about snow.

In fact, Tuesday's sunshine will continue to fade as clouds move in and thicken up – the first sign of increasing moisture aloft, ahead of a storm center moving out of the Ohio Valley and reaching a position over Cape Cod by Wednesday.

Clouds will be followed by rain and snow, but not until later this evening, arriving between 9 and 10 p.m. from the Worcester to Boston corridor. With an easterly wind and a relatively warm ocean, accumulating snow will be reserved for the interior, though some snowflakes will make an appearance in central Massachusetts and perhaps briefly to the Route 128 corridor north & west of Boston at the onset.

The rain/snow line will work northward overnight into predawn on Wednesday, meaning the morning commute will be all rain with the exception of the far western part of the state. Temperatures during the early morning hours north and west of Boston will hover just above freezing, which means a light glaze of ice is possible too, before warming to around 40 in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, with the storm center passing over Cape Cod, some milder air will get pulled in, allowing highs to rise into the 50s from the South Shore to Cape Cod.

With colder air locked into northern New England, a widespread 6 to 12 inches of snow is expected there (much to the delight of snow lovers and ski resorts) with amounts decreasing to the south. Totals will be a couple of inches in the Monadnock region and the Berkshires, and an elevation-dependent coating up to 2 inches in the Worcester Hills to southern New Hampshire, with elevations over 1,000 feet seeing the higher amounts.

What impact will this all have on travel? While roads will remain wet near and inside Route 495 and in much of southern New England, the high terrain locations will see slick conditions developing predawn Wednesday into the morning, and snowier spots of northern New England will contend with full-on winter storm conditions Wednesday.

And what about the wind? I don’t anticipate big issues because of the wind, but a few small limbs or branches may come down on Cape Cod, with some gusts topping out around 45 mph tomorrow morning through early afternoon.

As quickly as the storm rolls in tonight, it rolls out tomorrow afternoon, so aside from some scattered rain showers through midday, we'll notice a drying trend and even some late daybreaks before sunset.

After that, it's a return to cool, dry and fairly quiet weather for the end of the week and start of the weekend, with highs generally in the 40s and overnight lows in the 20s and 30s. There may be a few spotty rain showers or flurries around on Thursday and Friday, with no impact expected.