The warm stretch of weather in Connecticut is about to end.
After an unseasonably warm week that saw record-level highs in parts of Connecticut this week, snow and more rain is expected Friday before temperatures plummet into the single digits for the weekend.
Clouds are expected to gather Thursday night as an Alberta clipper system pushes in from the northwest. The weather system is expected to dump several inches of snow as it makes its way across the northern Plains, upper Midwest and Great Lakes, according to the weather service's Weather Prediction Center.
As the system approaches the East Coast from the Ohio Valley, it will be "absorbed" into a coastal low developing off the Carolina coast, the weather service's New York office said.
From that weather system, "showers may develop ahead of the coastal low over the area as early as Friday morning," the office said in its forecasters' discussion Thursday. "These would be in the form of rain along the coast and possible light snow showers inland if they develop at all."
The type of precipitation -- rain or snow -- will depend on the intensity and timing of the precipitation, as well as the temperature, the weather service said. The low is expected to exit the area Friday night, then "another piece of mid-level energy" could bring additional snow showers on Saturday, the weather service said.
The weather service's New York office is forecasting up to 4 inches of snow for southeastern Connecticut and up to 3 inches for southern areas of the state farther west, on the high end. However, the weather service said the expected snowfall totals are actually less. The expected snowfall forecast would see about an inch for southeastern Connecticut and southern parts of the state set back from the coast, while areas along the central and western coastline could get less than an inch.
A hazardous weather outlook for Litchfield County in the northwest warned of a "widespread light snow accumulation" expected for Friday into Saturday. While the snow is expected to remain under the amount needed for an advisory, which is 4 inches or more, "slippery travel will be
possible, including during the Friday evening commute."
In the wake of the snow and rain, an arctic air mass moves into the region Sunday into Monday. Mostly cloudy skies on Saturday will clear overnight, with temperatures plummeting from highs in the upper 20s and mid 30s during the day to the teens and single digits overnight. The winter solstice begins at 4:21 a.m. Saturday, which will be the shortest day of the year.
Highs will be between 15 and 18 degrees below normal, the weather service said, while Sunday night will see temperatures again dive into the low teens and near zero for parts of northwestern Connecticut.
"The air mass will then gradually warm up close to normal levels by midweek," the weather service said.
With the cold settling in Sunday into Monday, the weather service said some interior areas may not see temperatures rise above freezing until Christmas Day.
In addition, the weather service said a "weak frontal system" could produce some "light wintry precipitation" Christmas Eve into Christmas Day.
"However, there are no indications of this being a significant storm system," the weather service said.