Clouds Increase Tomorrow Ahead of Bigger System Expected Friday

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Good evening everyone and happy Wednesday. This evening’s weather setup shows the weakening area of high pressure that sat over New England during the day today. This will continue to exit to our north, as our next low-pressure system approaches from the southwest. This low is expected to track off to the west during the day Friday, resulting in snow showers to start, transitioning over to rain showers during the afternoon. Cold air is expected to return for Friday evening, resulting in a change back over to snow for many spots before the system wraps up and exits the region during the morning hours of Saturday.

Going hour by hour through the rest of the overnight hours shows cloud cover continuing to increase. While I don’t think we’ll be completely cloudy waking up tomorrow morning, I think there will be more clouds than blue skies to start the day. Low temperatures tonight are once again expected to fall back into the single digits both below and above zero depending on where you are. Right now, with clear skies sticking around, I think there will be a better chance of seeing more single digits below zero, with some communities further north and west getting closer to the teens below zero. Northerly winds are expected to remain light through the overnight hours, keeping the colder air in place.

Cloud cover continues to increase through the day tomorrow, as the low-pressure system gets closer to the region. While it was originally looking like we could see some snow showers tomorrow afternoon, computer models have backed off on that, and are leaving the snow shower activity for late Thursday evening as the system approaches from the southwest. High temperatures tomorrow are expected to climb back up into the lower to mid-20s across the county. Southeasterly winds will begin to bring slightly warmer air into the region, resulting in temperatures only rising from Thursday morning through Friday afternoon.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the entire county starting tomorrow evening. This is due to the threat of accumulating snow and slippery travel expected with this system as it enters the region Thursday night. This will likely be upgraded to either a Winter Weather Advisory or Winter Storm Warning going into tomorrow.

Snow will be right on our doorstep late Thursday evening, with snow showers expected to begin over southern Aroostook during the early morning hours of Friday. Snow continues heavy at times through the morning commute Friday, before beginning to transition over to rain over southern parts of the county. This mixing line continues north during the morning hours of Friday, resulting in a period of sleet and freezing rain possible through the central part of the county, before eventually transitioning over to rain by the early afternoon. Far northern and western parts of the county will eventually see some mixing occur, but look to be spared from the rain, as colder air works back into the region Friday afternoon and evening. Showers taper off during the overnight hours, leaving us with cloudy skies and scattered snow shower chances going into Saturday.

For more details on the forecast, make sure to check out this evening’s Weather on the Web Video Forecast. Have a great evening, and stay warm!

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