BOSTON - As we muddle our way through another cold and dry stretch, the question remains: Where's the snow? Well, we're monitoring another storm chance for Sunday night into Monday in Massachusetts.
Tuesday marks the halfway point in meteorological winter (Dec 1 - Feb 28). Forty-five days down and 45 to go.
While this winter has certainly felt a lot different than the last few, it looks much the same with just a smattering of snow here and there. No giant snowbanks at the mall and plenty of gas left in the snowblower.
New England and much of the East Coast will be in between two very different air masses, both jockeying for position and dominance.
To our northwest, perhaps the coldest chunk of Arctic air yet this season, marching into the Upper Midwest and, eventually, the Northeast.
To our southeast, a "ridge" in the jetstream, pushing in the opposite direction, trying to bring warmer air to the eastern and southeastern U.S.
Anytime you have clashing airmasses in the atmosphere, you create a "battlezone" in the middle.
Over the course of several days and primarily this weekend, there will be several storms riding this boundary, located near or just off the East Coast.
On Saturday, we are on the warm side here in New England. There will be a few passing rain showers (mainly overnight) and we will see temperatures rise well into the 40s for the first time in weeks.
Once that first storm passes, the cold air starts to win out. It will be noticeably colder by Sunday evening. At the same time, another storm system will ride north, up the frontal boundary and this time into colder air.
This is our next chance for some accumulating snowfall.
Being 5-6 days away from this potential event, there is still a lot to be determined.
As of this writing we feel fairly confident that this will not be a major storm for our area. It should be a quick mover with fairly light amounts of precipitation.
Having said that, we cannot rule out a light snowfall accumulation Sunday night into early Monday.
Enough to shovel or plow? Too early to tell, but we certainly wouldn't rule it out right now.
Regardless of what happens with the Sunday night storm, it appears there will be no escaping the surge of Arctic air to follow.
High temperatures early next week will remain in the teens and low 20s.
As always, the WBZ NEXT Weather Team will keep you posted every step of the way with frequent updates on WBZ-TV and WBZ.com