Update 4:00 p.m.:
A Darien Department of Public Works truck could be seen by the side of the DPW garage shortly after 2 p.m., all loaded up (with road salt) but no place to plow.
The expected snowfall just hadn't arrived yet, and, aside from the lightest of occasional flurries, it still hasn't.
But the National Weather Service is still predicting it for Darien. Here's their latest Darien-specific forecast, as of 12:23 p.m.:
- Thursday, late afternoon: "Rain and snow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 38. North wind around 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible."
- Thursday night: "Snow. Low around 31. Blustery, with a north wind 14 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible."
- Friday: " Snow before 3pm, then a chance of rain. High near 39. Breezy, with a north wind 17 to 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible."
- Friday night: "Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 30. North wind 10 to 15 mph."
Update 11:04 a.m.:
The National Weather Service's Darien-specific forecast still predicts snow by noon (we've got an hour to go) in its 9:31 a.m. update:
Snow likely before noon, then rain and snow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 38. Breezy, with a north wind around 22 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
The Coastal Flooding Advisory is over. A "Winter Weather Advisory" (for 6 p.m. to noon Friday) and "Hazardous Weather Outlook" are both in effect.
WABC-TV Channel 7 Meteorologist Bill Evans has this to say about today's weather on his Patch blog (read the whole thing here):
The biggest impact we will be looking at from the storm today won't be in the form of precipitation but instead wind, as gusts between 25 and 40 mph will be common today. Otherwise we will see a few times of rain or snow as the surface trough will still be far enough to our north were we don't see a ton or precipitation today.
Update 6:43 a.m.:
Some flurries have begun to fall.
The National Weather Service updated its Darien-specific forecast for today at 4:59 a.m. Here's the latest:
- Thursday: "Snow likely before noon, then rain between noon and 4pm, then snow after 4pm. High near 38. Breezy, with a north wind around 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
- Thursday night: Snow. Low around 31. Blustery, with a north wind 17 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible."
Article, updated throughout at 5:57 a.m.:
Darien Department of Public Works trucks would be salting the roads sometime overnight Wednesday to Thursday, Darien Public Works Director Robert Steeger said Wednesday, but only if the snow started falling.
As of very early Thursday morning, it hadn't.
At about the time snow starts falling, the DPW sends out six large trucks with plows to spread salt on the roadways—but Steeger said he couldn't be certain when the expected snow would come.
"It's supposed to be snowing already," he said at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Drivers were on call and would be called when the snow starts, he said. The town has plenty of salt, he added.
First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, in an email reply to a question about snow preparations, wrote: "We are preparing, as we always do, our plows and salt trucks. We don't anticipate a significant weather event but we are continuing to monitor. There may be the potential for some coastal flooding so residents should be prepared.
"High winds bring the concern of falling trees and power outages, but this storm is predicted to impact southwestern Connecticut as significantly as other parts of the state," she wrote.
As of 9:58 p.m. Wednesday, the the National Weather Service's Darien-specific weather forecast predicted: "Periods of snow. Low around 31. Blustery, with a north wind 22 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 44 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible."
Well, the snow part didn't happen.
Here's the weather service's Darien-specific weather forecast for the next several days:
- Thursday: "Snow before 1 p.m., then rain. High near 38. Breezy, with a north wind 21 to 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible."
- Thursday night: "Snow. Low around 31. Blustery, with a north wind 17 to 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible."
- Friday: "Snow before 4pm, then a chance of rain. High near 39. Breezy, with a north wind 18 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible."
- Friday night: "A chance of rain before 7pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 30. North wind 11 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent."
Overnight, the weather service removed its "Wind Advisory" (which had said winds of 25 to 30 mph could be interrupted by gusts of up to 55 mph). A "Coastal Flood Advisory" (updated at 5:05 a.m.) has been issued by the weather service for 4 to 9 a.m. Thursday, with water 2 to 3 feet above normal.
A "Winter Weather Advisory" has been issued (and updated at 3:55 a.m.) because of an expected prolonged period when the snow may fall, from Thursday through Friday. Overnight, the weather service revised its potential estimates of total snowfall down an inch—now it's 2 to 5 inches.
Steeger said the town has plows attached to six large trucks and five smaller ones. Town public works drivers handle all 11 plows and plow all the streets, he said, but the town hires private firms to plow some public parking lots downtown and the railroad parking lots.
