Winter Storm May Bring Snow To MA By Black Friday

MASSACHUSETTS — Those who still make tracks to the malls and outlets on Black Friday could get a real taste of winter this year as a storm brings the first significant chance of snow to parts of Massachusetts.

The storm is packing the potential for accumulating snow across the eastern half of the country on Thanksgiving and would likely arrive in New England on Friday, according to AccuWeather.

Even though the holiday should be spared for Massachusetts drivers — the National Weather Service is forecasting sunny and 43 degrees for those high school football games and trips over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house — the weekend could be a different story with a messy mix likely across the interior of New England.

One storm-track scenario, according to AccuWeather, involves a slow-moving storm, meaning potentially longer-lasting impacts from the Tennessee and Ohio valleys through the Northeast. The other scenario sends the storm farther south off the Carolina coast, meaning less precipitation for New England.

"A storm has the potential to snarl transit for those even traveling locally across portions of the Midwest and Northeast on Thanksgiving Day, even those chasing Black Friday deals could contend with travel challenges," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys.

For those staying cozy by the fireplace and television on Thanksgiving, the holiday parades could be a bit of a hoot with winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour potentially playing Ping-Pong with the large balloons at the New York City and Philadelphia parades.

The snow threat across the interior Northeast will remain a possibility later next week if the storm's core tracks far enough northward into the corridor of chilly air. As a dip in the jet stream, intense winds that blow at the upper levels of the atmosphere, nudges southward later next week, this may prove beneficial for chilly air across the Northeast, AccuWeather said.

"The possibility may still remain for some to wake up to a white Thanksgiving or see snowflakes fly in areas that typically do not see snow for the late-November holiday," noted Roys.