Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut can expect snow and wind Thursday. But the weather's not likely to generate the blizzard conditions eastern New England could see.
Forecasters say six to eight inches of snow are expected in the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires, with wind gusts hitting 35 to 40 mph late morning through Thursday afternoon.
Nicole Belk with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts, said this will make driving tricky throughout most of tomorrow.
"For folks who hit the roads very early in the morning, say 5:00 or 6:00 a.m., there may just be some light snow in the area," Belk said. "As you get towards seven and on, we could have visibility a quarter or a half-mile, with some pretty significant snowfall rates at times, so the driving conditions could be very poor."
The snow is expected to taper off Thursday night, but frigid temperatures and wind chills are expected to return. Belk said wind chills will be at their lowest during two time periods.
"One is around daybreak Friday, where we could have wind chills of 10 to 20 below in the area," Belk said. "And then during Friday night, getting even colder: 20 to 30 below zero on the wind chills for Friday night."
The last time the high temperature at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, went above freezing was on Christmas Day.
