Fairfield Police: Stay Inside and Off the Roads [Updated]

Update, 6:30 p.m.

Fairfield police have warned people to stay inside and off the roads, citing treacherous road conditions on the department's Facebook page:

"Several cars are stuck, blocking roads and impeding emergency vehicles. Please stay inside and off the roadways!"

Already, emergency crews have been dispatched to at least one accident -- a rollover at Black Rock Turnpike and Congress Street. According to the Connecticut Breaking News Network, very minor injuries were reported.

Update, 4:30 p.m.

The forecast for Fairfield has been updated since this morning. Here's what the National Weather Service has to say for the duration of the afternoon, tonight, and Thursday morning:

• Late Afternoon: Rain, snow, and sleet likely. Cloudy, with a high near 36. Breezy, with a east wind around 22 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of around an inch possible.
• Tonight: Snow before 8 p.m., then rain. The rain and snow could be heavy at times. Patchy fog. Temperature rising to around 43 by 3 a.m. Windy, with a east wind 24 to 34 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
• Thursday: Rain, mainly before noon. Patchy fog before noon. High near 46. Northeast wind 9 to 18 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Original Story

Mother Nature's going to be playing with her winter toys today, with the National Weather Service forecasting rain, snow and sleet, mainly after 4 p.m., along with a Coastal Flood Warning and a High Wind Warning.

So don't dawdle at those after-Christmas sales this afternoon. The good news is that, while you should have your snow shovel and salt ready (just in case!), it looks like any snow will be washed away by the rain. Quite a bit of rain, as a matter of fact.

Flooding, too

For those of you in low-lying areas along the shore, the weather service has upped its "Coastal Flood Watch," issued earlier, to a more serious "Coastal Flood Warning" from 8 p.m. to midnight, when the tide is highest. The warning is for western Long Island Sound, including Fairfield.

Tides should be 3 to 5 feet above normal and affect "vulnerable shore roads and/or basements."

Wind and gusts

For the New York metropolitan area, Long Island and coastal Connecticut, including Fairfield, the weather service's "High Wind Warning" is in effect from 4 p.m. this afternoon through 6 a.m. Thursday.

Forecasters say there could be winds of 25 to 40 mph and gusts of up to 60 mph.

"Winds of this magnitude will likely down trees and tree limbs, power lines and holiday decorations and cause minor property damage," according to the wind-warning forecast. "Power outages are possible. Driving high profile vehicles will be difficult, especially on elevated roadways and bridges.

Fairfield weather forecast

Here's what the National Weather Service predicts in its specific forecast for Fairfield:

The high temperature Wednesday should be a chilly 39, with breezy winds of 10 to 20 mph and winds gusting to as high as 37 mph. The chance of precipitation is 90 percent, but the snow and sleet combination is less than half an inch.

Wednesday night the rain could be heavy and the temperature should dip to 37 degrees with winds of 28 to 33 mph and gusts as high as 55 mph. We might get as much as 1 to 2 inches of rain.

Do you really want to be out in that weather tonight?

Here's the weather service for the rest of the week and the weekend:

• Thursday: Rain, mainly before noon. High near 46. East wind 14 to 18 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
• Thursday night: A slight chance of rain before midnight. Mostly cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 29. Northwest wind around 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent. Northwest wind 15 to 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.
• Friday: Sunny, with a high near 39. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
• Friday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 23.
• Saturday: A slight chance of snow before noon, then a chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Chance of precipitation is 30 pecent.
• Saturday night: A chance of snow. Cloudy, with a low around 26. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.
• Sunday: A chance of snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.
• Sunday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 22.