Snow Makes its Return to Stratford's Forecast

By Brian McCready

No one said Mother Nature doesn’t have a sense of humor. Today, the sun will fade and this afternoon/evening we could be facing thunderstorms, small hail and gusty winds for all of Connecticut.

Again, there is hit-and-miss potential, all depends on where you are. But, on the first day of spring, Sunday, we’re looking at snow, and chances are increasing that we’ll all see at least some snow in Connecticut.

Things can also change here daily in the forecast, but as of Thursday morning snow is more likely than not to occur in Connecticut on Sunday and into Monday morning.

The immediate situation, the National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for all of Connecticut for Thursday.

Southern Connecticut, which includes all of Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London counties:

Isolated thunderstorms with gusty winds and small hail are likely this afternoon, the National Weather Service states. The precipitation is likely to begin between 2-4 p.m. here and could last up until around midnight.

Northern Connecticut, which includes Hartford and Tolland counties:

Isolated thunderstorms with gusty winds and small hail are likely this afternoon, and there is a very low chance that a storm could reach severe limits.

Sunday’s snow?

It seems the stage for snow is being set by a dramatic temperature drop on Saturday as highs will be just near 40 or into the low 40s and at night the entire state falls back into the 20s.

On Sunday, temps won’t hit 40 degrees and snow and rain are expected after 12 p.m. and will continue throughout the day and evening hours.

In northern sections of Connecticut, including Hartford and Tolland counties, it may be all snow up there. No accumulation estimates have been made, mainly because the storm is days away and the track of the storm is so volatile and subject to change.

Connecticut’s weather experts

WTNH News 8 Meteorologist Gil Simmons wrote on Facebook, “Happy St. Patrick's Day! It looks like it will be very mild today with temperatures getting into the 60s. Be ready for a quick shower during the afternoon between 2 PM and 7 PM. I'm also watching the risk of some snow by late in the weekend and early next week!”

NBC Connecticut Meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan, who was the first to talk about the snow chance this weekend has been analyzing the different computer models on his blog and wrote, “(models) have fairly high probabilities of >6″ of snow across Connecticut – around 50%!”

“Putting it all together, the odds of a significant storm on Sunday night are increasing though there is still some uncertainty here,” Hanrahan wrote.

Hanrahan of course notes that the storm is very unpredictable especially being several days away.

Photo credit: Accuweather.com