Some parts of Massachusetts could see another five inches of snow during a storm on Tuesday afternoon. It’s a second coating on the heels of the first Nor’easter in 2024, according to the National Weather Service.
As of Tuesday morning, all of the state was under at least one weather watch, warning or advisory from the NWS including those for high winds, winter weather, and flooding.
The snow and is expected to hit in the afternoon across southern New England from west to east, the NWS said.
Western Massachusetts will see its precipitation begin as snow between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., the NWS said, while Eastern Massachusetts’ precipitation will be rain-only starting between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The greatest accumulations of snowfall are expected across far northwestern Franklin County. Forecasters said Worcester County’s higher terrains could see 1-2 inches, with localized amounts of 3 inches or more near the New Hampshire border.
The northern slopes of the Berkshires may see 2-4 inches, with 5-inch isolated totals in the northeastern slopes, the NWS said. Though the Winter Weather Advisory is currently only slated for Franklin and Hampshire counties, it could expand to Worcester County.
However, the snowfall in Western Massachusetts will be a “quick punch” at 1 inch or more per hour, forecasters predicted, as it “will be a race against time as warm air rushes in” to change over the precipitation to rain later in storm.
“Say goodbye to the snowy landscape as heavy rain is expected to fall across all of southern New England,” NWS forecasters wrote.
Forecasters are predicting heavy rainfall across southern New England as the storm changes and mixes from the snow, with a widespread total of 2-3 inches. In addition, the rain will cause snowmelt, and in turn, the potential for serious flooding along the southern border of Massachusetts.
Temperatures are expected to warm “rapidly” from the 30s and 40s to the 40s and 50s, which will “obliterate the snowpack” south of the Massachusetts Turnpike with flooding expected to be most problematic for northern Connecticut and Rhode Island, the NWS predicted.
The snow already on the ground in Massachusetts from the weekend, along with the 1-4 inches expected at the start of the storm on Tuesday, should act as sponge for most of the rain that falls in the storm and reduce flooding in most of the state, forecasters said.
Coastal flooding is still a possibility, however, for the Cape & the Islands and for Eastern Massachusetts, NWS cautioned.
The highest winds from the storm are predicted to be along the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with southeast winds ranging 30- to 40-miles per hour and gusts of 65 mph.
The warning has been issued starting 5 p.m. Tuesday until 1 p.m. Wednesday for parts of northeastern and southeastern Massachusetts, including Essex, Bristol and Plymouth counties and the Cape & the Islands.