Christmas Eve Snow To Deliver Fresh Coat Of White Across MA

MASSACHUSETTS — A fresh coat of white — on top of snow totals that ranged from 4 to 6 inches in parts of Eastern Massachusetts on Friday — should be just enough to make things festive on Christmas Eve ahead of some warming air moving into New England over the course of the holiday week.

Sunday night was the coldest in nearly two years across much of Massachusetts with temperatures falling into the single digits — and even some morning lows below zero. The National Weather Service said Monday was shaping up as not quite as cold as Sunday — when it was stuck in the teens throughout the day — with sunny skies and highs in the mid-20s.

The snow comes in early Tuesday morning with showers and a wind turning around to the southwest. It begins after 1 a.m. and is forecast to last as snow showers on and off during the morning commute.

The good news for those traveling is that it will not amount to much on the roads with a coating likely for much of the state with up to 2 inches in the Merrimack Valley and the North Shore near the New Hampshire border.

Any precipitation should end Tuesday afternoon with temperatures reaching the 30s.

That sets the stage for a bright and seasonable Christmas Day with temperatures rising to 35 on what should be a great day for travel.

The calm weather sticks around for the ride home from grandma's later in the week with mostly sunny skies each day and the temperatures progressively rising to a high of 37 on Thursday, 39 on Friday and possibly into the low-to-middle 40s by the weekend into the start of next week when rain showers may return.

(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.)