Head up! We’re already tracking rain and snow for parts of Massachusetts Wednesday evening.

As we move through this Wednesday, we can expect increasing cloudiness as a clipper system moves into New England. Sometime after 8 p.m. we will see snow forming in parts of western and central Massachusetts.

Winter Weather Warnings, Winter Storm Warning for parts of Vermont

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Western and Central Massachusetts from 8:00 p.m. Wednesday through 10:00 a.m. Thursday. Some communities that fall under the advisory could see up to 5 inches of snow. A winter storm warning is also in effect for parts of southwest Vermont.

How the people of Massachusetts prepared

At 8 p.m., salt trucks departed Fitchburg, Leominster, and Worcester to make sure the roads were passable.

“We’re going to salt the roads and have them pre-treated so that if the situation worsens overnight, it won’t be as difficult to move over to the side,” said Fitchburg dispatcher Michael East.

In Fitchburg, residents lined the aisles of Rocky’s Ace Hardware looking for salt bags and car supplies to mitigate the icy elements.

“I think it’s a lot busier than it was this time last year,” said Adam Cote, the store manager.

The rain/snow line of a winter storm that hit Massachusetts and New Hampshire on Wednesday passed right through the Boston area. We found many people preparing for flakes, but here’s where they would fall and for how long.

How much will it snow in Massachusetts and New Hampshire?

As for Boston, the chance of snow doesn’t look great at all! This event will likely remain a cold rain Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The highest accumulations will be northwest and west of the city, particularly west of Interstate 495.

CLICK HERE for the updated timeline, snow maps and travel impacts for this week’s storm

Is my school closed or delayed?

Several delayed starts were announced for Thursday morning in Massachusetts and at least some schools are closing. The list of school closures and delays for your region can be found here.

Snow squalls are possible in Boston on Thursday

Keep an eye on the sky around lunchtime on Thursday. We could see a snow storm moving over Boston, creating a flurry of wet snowflakes as the event came to a close. We don’t expect many squalls as temperatures will be well above freezing and we’ve already seen rain in the city for most of the event.

High temperatures in Boston on Thursday will be in the lower 40s.

We are just hours away from the first major snowfall of the winter for locations in the Greater Boston area. We checked out how the area is preparing and what the latest weather forecast says about where it will snow or rain. Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston

Winter storm brings strong winds

Let’s also talk about the winds. Thursday into Friday it will become stronger, with winds up to 45-50 mph at times. In fact, a wind advisory is in effect from 7:00 p.m. Wednesday to 10:00 p.m. Thursday for the Cape and Islands and from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Thursday for western and central Massachusetts.

We will still have blustery winds through Friday, with gusts of at least 30-35 mph. The high temperatures are around freezing, but the wind makes it feel like the teens and 20s.

Dry weather is expected for the weekend with highs in the 30s and 40s.