Significant Weather Blog: Friday, February 6, 2026, 10 AM
Significant Snow and Cold this Weekend
The extreme cold remains on track for late Saturday through Sunday as long advertised. An Extreme Cold Warning is now in effect for western and central portions of southern New England and Cold Weather Advisories elsewhere. In addition, several factors appear to be coming together for a more significant snowfall on Saturday than anticipated a number of days ago. People may wish to adjust plans and accomplish errands today or this evening before the snow and cold.
Snow
This is an interesting meteorological set up. A high amplitude upper-level trough drops southward through eastern New York/western New England and even closes off for a time south of New England Saturday afternoon. At the surface, a clipper-type low pressure center along an arctic cold front approaches western New England and then redevelops offshore south and southeast of New England. A signal showing up for a few days (but seemingly even more strongly on last night’s runs) is for an inverted trough extending north from the offshore low center into southern New England. The location of where this mesoscale inverted surface trough sets up is uncertain, although suspect it will be somewhere in central or eastern portions of southern New England. This surface inverted trough will provide a source of moisture convergence resulting in enhanced snowfall. In addition, along and near the MA east coast, there will likely be embedded bands of ocean effect snow – another factor that could produce locally enhanced snowfall. If the inverted surface trough should set up over eastern MA, then there could be still more enhanced moisture convergence from the combination of the snow bands converging into the trough. And if all of that isn’t enough, the leading edge of arctic air moving west to east across southern New England on Saturday could produce locally heavy embedded snow squalls with short term but very intense snow rates, especially over the eastern half of southern New England.
The National Weather Service local office produced an informative and thorough area forecast discussion on this situation. In addition to the factors noted above, it was mentioned that there are signs of deepening moisture over the dendritic snow growth region with fairly significant uplift. This would favor significant accumulation rates with a fluffy texture to the snow.
From a timing perspective, ocean effect snow showers may develop as early as this evening along the MA east coast. A more general snow should spread from west to east across southern New England late tonight (around or after midnight) and persist through at least Saturday morning. The snow will likely taper off to flurries over western MA and most of CT Saturday afternoon and then probably by early evening across central MA and eastern MA back from the coast. Ocean effect snow showers will likely linger through Saturday evening along the MA east coast from Cape Ann to Plymouth and into at least Sunday morning across the Cape and Nantucket.
The forecasting of amounts is tricky since mesoscale influences (e.g. the inverted surface trough, embedded ocean effect snow bands, embedded snow squalls, etc.) will likely cause considerable variation in final storm totals across southern New England. With that important caveat, anticipate a widespread snowfall of 2 to 4 inches across western MA and CT (including the CT River Valley). Further east across central and eastern MA, eastern CT, and RI, believe there will be a widespread 3 to 5 inches but with pockets of higher amounts on the order of 5 to 8 inches. For at least most of the eastern half of southern New England, this will probably be a plowable snow with significant travel impacts for much of Saturday. Since the snow will be followed by extremely cold wind chills Saturday night into Sunday, people may wish to accomplish any needed errands today/tonight.
Cold
An Extreme Cold Warning issued by the National Weather Service is in effect for western and central MA as well as CT for Saturday night through Sunday morning. Cold Weather Advisories are in effect for the rest of southern New England. Very cold temperatures will be accompanied by northerly wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph late Saturday afternoon into Sunday to produce wind chills well below zero. Across the higher terrain of western and central Massachusetts, wind chill values of 20 to 30 below are likely Saturday night into Sunday morning. Elsewhere, including Boston and Providence, wind chills of 15 to 20 below can be expected Saturday night into Sunday morning. These are dangerous wind chills that can initiate frostbite on skin that’s exposed only for minutes.
Next Message
Will continue to monitor this weather situation and update later if conditions warrant. Will also be issuing the regular weekly significant weather outlook on Monday.
About this Blog and Disclaimer
The National Weather Service monitors the weather 24/7 and updates forecasts, watches, and warnings as necessary. For most of southern New England, refer to your local Weather Forecast Office for the latest forecast/warning information at weather.gov/box. For information from other Weather Forecast Offices, go to weather.gov and click on the location of interest on the map.
A blog is issued when there is a potential risk of hazardous weather to southern New England and serves to provide background information regarding the significant weather with somewhat of an educational slant. In the case of hurricanes, the author will attempt to issue a message when any portion of the United States coastline may be seriously impacted. It’s intended to complement and not serve as an alternative to official forecasts issued by the National Weather Service. Readers are urged to check National Weather Service forecasts and warnings for the most timely and updated weather information. This weather message is solely produced by the listed author and does not constitute an official product of the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center (BHOSC).
The frequency of this blog will depend upon the nature of the weather threat and availability of the author. Thus, for the latest information on weather forecasts and warnings, refer to the National Weather Service, which monitors and forecasts the weather 24/7.
Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center (BHOSC)
The BHOSC maintains a continuous daily observation record that dates from February 1, 1885 without interruption and provides educational information on weather and climate to area students and the community at large. Your support of BHOSC is much appreciated and enables this nonprofit organization to maintain the long-term climate record at the Blue Hill Observatory (longest continuous record in North America) and provide valuable educational resources on weather and climate via outreach to schools, site visits/tours, webinars, and conferences. For more information on the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, explore bluehill.org.
Message issued February 6, 2026 by:
Bob Thompson
Retired National Weather Service Meteorologist
Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center Board member
