Three days before Saturday’s (Jan. 28) expected snowstorm, meteorologists are all predicting a “possible” snowstorm. They’re using phrases like “chance of a Nor’easter” and filling copy with explanations of what a bomb cyclone is (TLDR: a winter hurricane), just in case.
As of Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service is laying out two possible models — one that shows barely any snow for Wilton, and the other that predicts up to almost two feet of heavy powder.
But even the NWS is hedging its bets with an official forecast that puts it somewhere in the middle … for now.
What officials in the CT Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) say is that a low-pressure system is forecast to form off the U.S. southeast coast Friday evening, and it will rapidly intensify as the storm moves generally towards Cape Cod into Saturday. Right now, the latest computer models (again, as of Wednesday early evening) are slightly to the east of Tuesday night’s models.
If the storm follows the average track of four models (at left), Connecticut “can expect a fairly large winter storm starting around daybreak on Saturday and continuing until Saturday evening. Northeast winds could gust to 50-60 mph at times along the coast with temperatures in the mid to upper 20s. The impact on travel could potentially be major with very low visibilities and snow-covered roads. Some power outages are also possible. Some air travel in the Northeast could be cancelled. Total snowfall may range from 4-8 inches in Western CT up to 8-16 inches in Eastern CT (especially near the RI border).”
A lot can change in the next 48 hours before the storm makes impact in the Wilton area, and snowfall amounts will be highly dependent on the exact track.
The DESPP alert noted that “a track change of just 100 miles closer to Connecticut could mean the difference between 8 inches of snow and two feet of snow.”
GMW will continue to monitor reports and bring updates as they solidify.