MA Blizzard Could Dump 18 Inches: Updated Forecast

BOSTON, MA — Can the National Weather Service please stop sending out updated forecasts? Remember that forecast of up to a foot of snow? Now the 4 p.m. update is warning of between 12-18 inches of snow in much of Massachusetts on Thursday. The rest of the state can also expect higher totals and possible frozen rain.

Everywhere from Central Mass. to the North Shore to about Braintree is still slated to get the worst of it - 12-18 inches, the NWS said. Western Mass., which was supposed to get away with a relative dusting, is now prepping for 6-8 inches. The Cape is the only area that may not get snowed in, but even that has roughly 4 inches heading Barnstable's way. See the maps below for how much you can expect, and subscribe to your local Patch or download our new phone app for the iPhone and Android for school closings, parking bans, power outages, and more.

Many schools districts have called a snow day for Thursday, while others have canceled school through the rest of the week.We have all the school closings as they are announced here.

Then there are the strong, damaging wind gusts expected, especially across the Cape and Islands, where gusts can reach 70 miles per hour. The rest of the coast up just shy of Boston and in Cape Ann will see gusts of over 60 mph, while gusts of about 50 mph will extend out to Central Mass.

The major concern with wind that gusty (aside from the wind chill factor alone) in the potential for power outages so much wind and snow can cause. The bitter cold is returning Friday and Saturday - we're talking about 20 degrees below zero with the wind chill factor.

The blizzard warning has expanded into Boston and the North Shore, as visibility is expected to be very poor. The rest of the state is under a winter storm warning through Thursd

If you were planning on flying out of town? The folks at AccuWeather are predicting that flights may be put on hold for a time at Boston Logan International Airport during the height of the storm. A few airlines have already cancelled flights.

"Airline delays and cancellations will mount. Ripple-effect delays may occur across the nation. Some aircraft and crews are likely to be displaced by the severe storm in New England," predicts Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist.

Did we mention road travel will be tricky?

If you absolutely must drive Thursday remember, 70 percent of snow and ice related injuries occur in automobiles, according to NWS Boston. One way to keep save is to leave extra space between you and the vehicle in front of you. A rule of thumb is to keep at least 5 seconds of space between you and the car in front of you. How do you measure that? Watch as the car passes a fixed object and count slowly until you get to that fixed object. That will roughly tell you how many seconds behind a car you are. In any event, give more space to the cars in front of you that you normally do and be watchful.

And then there's MBTA and commuter rail travel:

Watch for delays and cancellations. MassDOT has already cancelled ferry and commuter rail service in places.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch