Early Look at Kickoff Next Sunday...

We are a week away from kickoff at Gillette of the AFC Divisional playoff game.  If you're lucky enough to have a ticket, you may ask what is the weather going to be like at Foxboro.  Normally in mid January, you would expect bitter temperatures or maybe even a snow bowl like in 2001 against the Oakland Raiders.  Well, neither look to be in the cards for this year.  After sustaining a solid snow pack for about 1-2 weeks across much of SNE, a massive January thaw arrives by Tuesday and likely peaks right around the end of next weekend, just in time for the Texans to arrive at the Gillette.  In fact, the Houston players may think that they never actually left Texas in the first place because we could easily be talking middle 50s if not slightly over 60 degrees by Sunday afternoon!

EARLY GUESS GAME TIME CONDITIONS

4:35PM - Sunday, January 13th

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Kickoff:  Mid-Upper 50s Dry

Halftime:  Lower 50s Dry

End:  Upper 40s Dry, Slight Risk Shower

Take a look at the 18z GFS depiction of the warmth for next Sunday.  All you have to know is that there will be a broad push from the southwest into SNE that really warms us up.  High pressure just west of Bermuda, coupled with low pressure pushing northeast through the Great Lakes will push the warmest of the air right into SNE on SW winds, likely pretty gusty.  Showers should hold off until after the game with the cold front to the west.  It may take a while for that front to actually get east of us too because that push of warm air is so pronounced.

I do not have time to post later images from the GFS, but I want to drive home the point that this warmth will NOT last.  It is in here for a 6-8 day stint.  Tomorrow will likely be in the middle 30s and then we are in the 40s through Friday before pushing 50 on Saturday and then 60 on Sunday.  Thereafter we really start to cool down and by the middle of next week after the warmup, we will likely be back to 20s/30s for high temperatures.  It still remains to be seen how much snowfall we will see in the new pattern, but we should be able to increase the chances somewhat just with having cold air around.  Most importantly, nearly every computer model (GFS, EURO, GGEM, etc.) agree that this warmup will be short-lived and that winter is far from over.  In other words, enjoy the warmth while you can this week.