It sure hasn’t felt like February in Maine this month with record highs and not much snow (except for northern parts of the state). However, that’s about to change with a colder and snowier weather pattern shaping up this week.

Get the snow shovels and plows ready, and let’s discuss.

Current snow depth is about what you’d expect across the Pine Tree state but not for the southern coast, where there’s zero snow on the ground. It’s quite rare for this to be the case in one of our snowiest months on average.

But there’s good news for snow-lovers as a major winter storm moves into New England on Wednesday night. Low pressure will bring plenty of moisture up from the south and run into much colder air with high pressure building in from the north.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s chat about Tuesday first.

A slushy coating to 3 inches of snow is in the forecast for most of the state after the evening commute. I don’t expect the precipitation to start until after 3 p.m. Tuesday in western Maine.

Then we can turn our eyes to the main event arriving well after the evening commute Wednesday but lasting into midday Friday. Look for a significant, plowable snowfall for the entire state.

The more cold air we have, the more snow will accumulate. At this time I expect a heavy, “thump” of snow overnight into Thursday morning with a change to sleet during the day and back to snow into early Friday.