WEATHER UPDATE: Some Rain, Some Snow Coming to Manchester

By Brian McCready (Patch Staff)

It isn’t very pretty what a storm without pity can do, but for Manchester, it looks like the sky has some pity: The coming rain and snow are much less here than to the south in Connecticut.

Still, Thursday morning’s commute will be made more difficult, after rain, then snow falls overnight. Watch out for slippery roads. A total of 2 to 5 inches of snow may accumulate by Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service, but Connecticut meteorologists are predicting less.

According to Connecticut’s leading meteorologists this could be an almost all-or-nothing snow event late Wednesday into midday Thursday. We will continue to update this.

It is still possible communities along the Interstate 95 corridor could receive between 3 and 6 inches of snow including: southern Fairfield, southern Middlesex, southern New Haven, and southern New London counties.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for those areas listed below beginning at 7 p.m. tonight. For areas more inland a couple of inches of snow is possible, but that is still not certain.

While the National Weather Service is predicting up to six inches is still possible for the Connecticut Shoreline, no Connecticut meteorologist is making that same prediction as of Wednesday morning.

WFSB Meteorologist Scot Haney is predicting only 2 to 3 inches of snow for the southern half of the state, and just 1 to 2 inches for the northern half of the state including Hartford and Tolland counties.

In reality, this type of accumulation, especially after the winter we’ve had, would be classified as a dud, but the only complication is that the precipitation could be falling right in the middle of Thursday’s morning commute to work and school.

NBC Connecticut Meteorologist Bob Maxon predicts up to four inches of new accumulation is possible with the highest amounts along the I-95 corridor, less inland.

WTNH News 8’s Meteorologist Gil Simmons is predicting 2-4 inches for Connecticut and less inland. But the good news is, he writes 50s are possible by the middle of next week.

Here is the National Weather Service’s latest Manchester-specific forecast (as of the 9:53 a.m. update):

• Wednesday: A chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 41. West wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
• Wednesday night: A chance of rain before 8pm, then a chance of rain and snow between 8pm and 9pm, then snow likely after 9pm. Patchy fog after 9pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 20. Light and variable wind becoming northwest around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
• Thursday: Snow likely, mainly before 8am. Patchy fog before 4pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 24. Northwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
• Thursday night: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 7. Northwest wind around 6 mph.
• Friday: Sunny, with a high near 25. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable in the morning.
• Friday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 11.

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