Bitter Blast To Hit MA With Snow Chance, Taste Of Winter: See Latest Forecast

MASSACHUSETTS — A bitter blast of winter weather — with the chance to see the first snowflakes of the season — is on the way as temperatures crash Monday night into Tuesday across Massachusetts.

The shift is part of a frigid airmass that will bring sharply colder weather across the eastern two-thirds of the country, including record-low maximum and minimum temperatures as far south as Florida, according to the National Weather Service.

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"Snowy, very cold and windy from the Great Lakes to interior New England and west slopes of the Appalachians," the NWS said.

That includes 4 to 8 inches of snow in western New York and northern Maine. While there will be no accumulating snow across Massachusetts, interior sections of the state could see a stray squall or snow shower on Tuesday as temperatures struggle to get out of the 30s.

Monday's issue is more about the dense fog in coastal locations and rain throughout the day. Once that clears later in the day, temperatures will fall rapidly as highs in the 50s during the day turn into widespread 20s and frost at night.

Tuesday will be a mostly sunny, windy and cold day with highs in the upper 30s for most and wind gusts as high as 32 miles per hour, making it feel much more like December.

Winds will switch around to the southwest on Wednesday as it stays breezy but temperatures recover into the upper 40s.

The rest of the week is looking sunny and cool with a high of 51 degrees on Thursday and highs in the 40s on Friday and Saturday.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)