The time frame for the potent storm is early Friday evening, Jan. 28 into early Saturday evening, Jan. 29.
"Confidence is increasing on a strong coastal storm impacting parts of Southern New England," the National Weather Service said just after sunset on Thursday, Jan. 27. "While some uncertainty remains with the exact track, we have higher confidence in significant snow/wind across eastern MA/RI with lower confidence farther inland."
Besides the potential for significant snowfall, strong North/Northeast winds up to 40 to 50 miles per hour are possible across much of the interior with 60-70 mph across southeastern Massachusetts, the weather service noted.
"With blowing & drifting snow, localized near-blizzard conditions are possible from southeast Massachusetts to Cape Cod," the weather service said.
For a breakdown of the brand-new NWS snowfall projections, see the first image above.
Click here to follow Daily Voice New Haven and receive free news updates.