Snow stuck to the ground in Massachusetts for the first time in 2024, according to the National Weather Service, the first reported snowfall ahead of a weekend winter storm expected to bear down on the Bay State.
The “light snow” began in the Western part of the state around 3 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 4, said Boston/Norton office forecaster Kristie Smith.
It was 4 a.m when the bulk of the dusting started to fall, leaving “trace amounts” on the ground before the band pushed southeast into Eastern Massachusetts, the forecaster said.
“There’s a cold front that’s pushing through today, so we’re seeing these light snow showers that leave coatings on the ground, ahead of that front that’s going to move through this evening,” Smith explained.
Snow in Springfield, Mass. the morning of Jan. 4, 2024. Photo by Irene RotondoIrene Rotondo
“We’re not really anticipating much more than a coating, which [was] seen out there in Western Mass. today,” Smith said, adding temperatures were too warm for snow to stick to the ground in Eastern Massachusetts.
Both Hampden and Hampshire County were the regions to receive a dusting that stuck, and multiple towns and cities in the Springfield area like Chicopee and Springfield itself were under a light blanket as of Thursday morning, Smith said.
The forecaster said the area “may see some more flakes in the next two or three hours” as of 9 a.m., as another “light band” of snow could come down before tapering off for the afternoon. The coating is expected to melt by mid-day, Smith added.
The snowfall reports in lower Western Massachusetts first came in from local airports just after 6:20 a.m., Smith said, including from Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport at 6:53 a.m. on Jan. 4, and just over the Connecticut border at Staffordville Regional Airport at 5 a.m.
The forecaster added it was difficult to tell the exact locations where the snow stuck, as it the light dusting data was self-reported by local airports.
Smith said though she couldn’t “guarantee somebody didn’t see a flake somewhere” in the state during the first previous three days of the new year, this was the first reported “coating” seen in the state in 2024.
Snow in Springfield, Mass. the morning of Jan. 4, 2024. Photo by Irene RotondoIrene Rotondo
The flakes come as a precursor to the expected winter weather storm on track to hit Massachusetts late Saturday evening and into Sunday. The entire state has between a 60% and 80% chance of getting more than half a foot of snow, NWS reported.
The snow is expected to hit Western Massachusetts first between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, and will continue to move overnight and into Sunday across the state before tapering off by 10 p.m. in southeastern Massachusetts.