It's Back: More Wintry Precipitation Today

UPDATE: All Melrose Public Schools afternoon and evening activities (except Education Stations) have been canceled due to the weather. The Melrose Public Library is closing at 5 p.m.

We're not getting much of a break this time.

Not even quite a week since the last storm, a messy mix of wintry precipitation has returned to eastern Massachusetts, with around three inches of snow already on the ground by noon today in some parts of Melrose.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for Middlesex County, in effect until 11 p.m. The advisory warns motorists to be particularly careful this evening, when freezing rain will continue to fall. A tenth of an inch of ice may form on top of the fallen snow and existing, hidden ice.

Starting at 7 a.m., Melrose DPW workers began laying salt on the roads, switching to sand around 12 p.m. on main roads, hills, and streets near the city's schools.

As for traffic conditions, so far, so good in Melrose as of early afternoon.

"We've been pretty lucky today so far," Melrose Police Lieutenant Mark DeCroteau said. "There is some sliding going around, but there's been nothing major."

The good news? Temperatures are forecast to actually rise tonight, slipping out of the 20s into the mid-30s.