Cold in Massachusetts, February 1, 2026

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Albany NY
628 PM EST Sat Jan 31 2026

.WHAT HAS CHANGED...
Cold Weather Advisory issued from 10 PM this evening through 10 AM
Sunday for Litchfield County in northwestern Connecticut,
Berkshire County in western Massachusetts, and the Mohawk
Valley, Capital District, Schoharie Valley, eastern Catskills,
mid Hudson Valley and Taconics in eastern New York.

&&

.KEY MESSAGES...
1) Bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills continue through
the rest of the weekend. A slight moderation is expected early
to mid next week, but temperatures will still be below normal.

2) Breezy conditions in store Sunday into Sunday night as an
ocean storm moves well off the Atlantic Coast, with no snow
impacts for eastern New York and western New England.

3) A clipper system brings the next chance of widespread
snowfall Friday into Saturday, although impacts mainly look to
be minor at this time.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
KEY MESSAGE 1...

Another cold night in store for tonight, with lows expected to
be colder than last night due to lack of appreciable cloud
cover. Mixed layer flow will be shifting to more of a northerly
direction, so lake effect clouds should be confined to central
NY resulting in colder temperatures. Northerly winds will also
start to gradually increase towards Sunday morning, so minimum
wind chills(feels-like) temperatures should generally drop to
the -10F to -25F range. This results in Cold Weather Advisory
criteria being achieved from around the I-90 corridor and
Capital District southward. The Advisory is in effect from late
this evening through late Sun morning.

Temperatures will "warm" into the 10s to around 20F Sun
afternoon, but increasing northerly winds will make it feel
colder (single digits to below zero). Temperatures Sun night
will still be very cold, but likely not as cold as tonight.
However a northerly breeze will persist so an additional Cold
Weather Advisory may be needed in some areas again Sun night
into Mon morning.

KEY MESSAGE 2...

As a large and intense ocean storm tracks NE well off the
Atlantic coast tonight through Sun night, the strengthening
pressure gradient will result in northerly winds increasing in
our area. Gusts of 20-30 mph are expected Sun into Sun night,
mainly from around the Hudson Valley and Catskills eastward into
western New England. The main impact from the winds will be
resulting bitterly cold wind chills.

KEY MESSAGE 3...

Outside of a few light snow showers across western areas mid
next week, the next chance of widespread snowfall looks to be
Fri into early Sat as a clipper system approaching from the
Great Lakes is forecast to move across the area. Based on the
anticipated fast movement and limited moisture, mainly minor
impacts are expected at this time. Snow accumulations look
light, with the NBM 24-hr probabilities ending 7 PM Sat showing
a 20-50% chance for > 1" of snow and only a 10-20% chance for >
3" snow across much of the area.

&&

.AVIATION /00Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...
Through 00z Monday...Flying conditions are VFR at all terminals,
and expected to remain mostly VFR through the entire TAF
period...Mainly clear skies this evening give way to FEW to SCT
mid-level clouds by around midnight, with high clouds becoming
BKN as a coastal storm tracks well offshore with no impact to
our region. Can't rule out a brief period with some borderline
MVFR cigs at POU late tonight if cloud coverage is greater than
forecast, but at this time confidence is too low to mention in
the TAF. SCT mid-level and BKN high clouds continue through much
of the day tomorrow, before diminishing in coverage after
around sunset tomorrow evening.

Winds will be at 5-10 kt from the N/NW this evening through
tonight at ALB/POU/PSF, but switch to the N/NE at GFL after
04-06z. Winds tomorrow will be mainly from the north at 10-15 kt
with some gusts to 15-25 kt, and locally 20-30 kt at POU with
the coastal storm passing south of the region. Gusts diminish
after sunset tomorrow with winds subsiding to 5-10 kt from the
N/NW. Have also added LLWS for a period late tonight/tomorrow
morning at ALB/POU with a N/NE 30-40 kt low-level jet overhead,
and at PSF tomorrow evening as the low-level jet shifts east
and turns to the N/NW.

Outlook...

Sunday Night to Thursday: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX.

&&

.ALY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CT...Cold Weather Advisory from 10 PM this evening to 10 AM EST
     Sunday for CTZ001-013.
NY...Cold Weather Advisory from 10 PM this evening to 10 AM EST
     Sunday for NYZ038-040-047>054-058>061-063>066.
MA...Cold Weather Advisory from 10 PM this evening to 10 AM EST
     Sunday for MAZ001-025.
VT...None.

&&

DISCUSSION...07
AVIATION...35