BOSTON — Chilly temperatures in the mid-30s are expected to greet revelers at the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade on Sunday, but it looks like a weekend storm bearing down on the Northeast for the first day of spring may hold off until late Sunday in the Valley.
The 65th annual parade kicks off at 11:45 a.m. and is expected to draw some 400,000 on-street spectators, as well as numerous parade participants.
“It’s just a tremendous product,” Michael T. Ahearn, parade president, said. “The entertainment value is just huge.”
It’s an event, he added, that appeals to all generations.
“Holyoke is a very tight-knit community,” Ahearn said. “It’s not just parade weekend, it’s a reunion weekend. People plan for this weekend all year.”
But parade-goers will have to weather low temperatures and possible snowfall if they’re planning to attend the storied celebration.
The National Weather Service says the high will be 36 degrees on Sunday, with snow expected sometime after 3 p.m. The snow will continue through Sunday night and taper off Monday morning.
No winter storm watches have been issued for western Massachusetts as of Friday night.
The scene will be much different to the east. Over 6 inches of accumulation is possible, mostly in New England and along coastal parts of the region. New York and Philadelphia should at least get a few inches, forecasters say.
“I was thinking that winter was over, but I have learned there is always a surprise around the corner,” said Pete Kusinski, a 32-year-old Cambridge resident. “If it’s Monday, it’s really going to screw up the commute. But if it’s over the weekend, it’s less of a big deal.”
The snow should start Sunday morning in mid-Atlantic cities like Washington, D.C, Philadelphia and New York, but higher temperatures should help mitigate snow accumulations, said Thomas Kines, a Pennsylvania-based meteorologist for AccuWeather.
“We’re most concerned with New England with this storm,” Kines said. “I don’t think there will be many problems in the D.C./Baltimore area. New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia is a little bit iffier.”
New England, in contrast, won’t see the brunt of the inclement weather until Sunday night, when temperatures drop.
And the snow could stick around through Monday morning in New England, possibly creating a messy commute and prompting school cancellations, says Frank Nocera, a Massachusetts-based meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty, still a lot of moving parts,” he said. “We’re two-plus days out, so the storm really hasn’t formed yet.”
This winter has been relatively tame for the Northeast.
Washington, New York, Philadelphia and other mid-Atlantic cities have seen higher-than-average snowfall, but temperatures have been milder than usual, meaning the snow hasn’t really stuck around very long, Kines said.
New York has seen about 32 inches of snowfall this winter, with about 27 inches for Philadelphia and about 22 inches for D.C., according to Kines. Most of that came during a massive, record-breaking blizzard that blanketed much of the eastern United States in January. In that storm alone, New York got nearly 27 inches and Philadelphia and D.C. each recorded about 22.
In New England, which weathered historic snowfalls last year, accumulation has been below average.
Boston saw more than 100 inches of snow last year but just 26 inches this year, according to Kines. The city averages about 40 inches per winter.
“The best thing about New England is the weather,” said Edward Smith, a 25-year-old Boston resident. “You never know what’s coming.”
To be sure, it isn’t novel for the region to see snow on the first day of spring. A few inches fell last year from Boston to Philadelphia.
“March is a very fickle month,” Kines said. “This kind of stuff happens. We’ll get these warm spells and then people will think spring is here and then Mother Nature says, ‘Not so fast.’”
Information reported by Philip Marcelo from the Associated Press was used in this report.