Connecticut Weather: Impact of Thursday's Nor'easter Detailed

A nor’easter in late December must mean the entire state of Connecticut is going to get slammed with some snow, right? Nope, not at least with this nor’easter. In fact, all of southern Connecticut is likely to see very little accumulating snow.

In fact, if you want to see some accumulating snow, Hartford, Litchfield and Tolland counties are the places to be on Thursday. A “Winter Storm Watch” is in effect from Thursday morning through Thursday night for Hartford and Tolland counties for some possible heavy snow, sleet and up to 4 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.

For those of us in Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London counties, you may see some brief snowflakes at the immediate coast from Greenwich to New London. When you move a bit inland in southern Connecticut you might see an inch of snow on Thursday. (See below for a timeline of snow and rain on Thursday.)

For those of you who aren’t going to get a lot of snow, you’ll be experiencing gusty winds and a decent rainstorm on Thursday.

Also the New Year’s Day forecast, which called for the chance of snow and rain earlier this week, looks much better today, with sunny skies and temps into the 40s. The next chance for some unsettled weather after Thursday is on Monday with some snow and rain possible.

NBC Connecticut meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan wrote late Tuesday that “Our first new computer model run of the evening is the NAM. The storm tracks over Block Island and there's no cold high pressure to the north. This is not a good setup for significant snow in most of Connecticut. We'll see how it evolves but storms like this are generally tough ones for snow lovers in Hartford and New Haven... in the hills it can be a different story. “

In a Wednesday morning blog post, Hanrahan explains the science behind why this nor’easter isn’t going to deliver big snow to Connecticut except in extreme northern parts of the state. You can read his blog post here.

WTNH News 8 meteorologist Gil Simmons wrote Wednesday morning, “Calm weather today with colder temperatures highs around 40° but it will feel like 32° with the wind. It looks to me like mostly rain with this next storm coming in for tomorrow. It may start as a little mix then go over to rain and end as some wet snow. I'm not expecting much in the way of accumulation except near Mass. Quiet weather for Friday.”

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Here’s the updated forecast for Connecticut via the National Weather Service:

Wednesday: Partly sunny, high in the mid 40s at the coast and near 40 inland.

Thursday: Snow is possible before 10 a.m. at the immediate Connecticut coast and then plain rain with highs in the 40s. Almost no snow accumulation expected. After 9 p.m. Thursday, it’s possible the rain will end as some light snow. Winds gusting to 30 mph at times.

Inland parts of Southern Connecticut: Snow is possible until noon Thursday. Then it's plain rain with temps near 40 degrees. An inch of snow is possible. The rain could change to some snow right before the precipitation wraps up before midnight. A half inch of snow is possible before it ends.

Hartford and Tolland counties: Snow before 2 p.m. Thursday then a mix of snow and rain. The mixed precipitation changes back to all snow Thursday evening and wraps up by 10 p.m. Winds could gust up to 32 mph and 3-5 inches of snow is possible in extreme northern parts of Hartford and Tolland counties, while 2-4 inches is expected elsewhere in the region.

Friday: Partly sunny after a cloudy start. Temps in the upper 30s to near 40.

New Year’s Eve: Mostly sunny, highs in the upper 30s and at midnight not too cold with temps around 30 at the coast and upper 20s inland.

New Year’s Day: Partly sunny and temps in the low 40s.