Be careful on the road after 6 p.m. Sunday night. One to two inches of snow could be falling per hour in the evening, warns meteorologist Dave Epstein.
Rain is likely coming first, but then, forecasts are calling for between four and eight inches of snow to hit Boston. Epstein pointed out that it should be cold enough that the snow will get light and fluffy quickly.
“That’s the key to the forecast: How quickly does that snow start piling up in a real fluffy way?” he told GBH News. “Because that’s what’s gonna lend us to those higher amounts — six, seven, eight inches. If it stays a little bit wetter for a few hours longer, we’ll be closer to about four or five inches.”
Snowfall will likely be lighter down on the Cape and Islands, he said.
As Boston prepares for another snowstorm, the city and its surrounding areas are going through the usual steps of getting ready for wintery weather.
Jonathan Gulliver, the state highway administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, was pleased when speaking about the timing of the storm with NBC10 Boston on Sunday.
“Holiday weekend where traffic is light to begin with and then be overnight, honestly, for the first big storm of the season, first big storm we’ve had in some time, really hard to complain about this one,” he said.
Gulliver expects there will be a little more than 2,000 pieces of equipment from MassDOT on the roads at the storms peak. Although the storm won’t be the worst the state has seen, Gulliver is still urging caution for drivers.
“We’re not really asking people to stay home, but we are telling people to really be aware that this is going to be some very difficult traveling overnight,” he said. “It’s a pretty quick hit for a storm, and we do expect — with the intensity — that there’s going to be times that it’s gonna be very slippery.”
For those around Greater Boston and areas to the south, Epstein had a piece of advice.
“I might on my driveway put down, once you see [the snow] starting, put down a little bit of ice melt,” he said. “That will get that very lowest layer so that it doesn’t stick. Because everything above that is going to be really light and easy to move.”
