5 Things You Need To Know Today, Thursday, Feb. 7

Here are 5 pieces of information designed to get your Thursday off to a flying start and to help make you the smartest person in your family.

1. Your Local 3-Day Weather Forecast:

• According to the NWS, today will be partly sunny, with a high near 24. Calm wind becoming northwest around 6 mph in the morning.
• Tonight A chance of snow showers, mainly after 1am. Cloudy, with a low around 16. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
• Friday Snow showers. High near 31. East wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.
• Friday Night Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 17. Blustery, with a north wind 16 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
• Saturday Snow, mainly before 1pm. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 21. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 49 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
• Saturday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 10.

2. Messy Commute: Things could get ugly on the roads this evening and definitely Friday morning. Keep track of the road conditions with the Stoneham Patch Commute Page. We update conditions every five minutes with accidents, construction and general traffic jams.

3. Reader Comment of the Day: "Fine with cutting back 1 day of delivery if really will save the USPO so much $ but think eliminating Wed. Delivery would be much better as mid-week and would not mean so many days in a row when no delivery! Also Sat. Is only day some people can interact with their postal person." Reader Brandon Wilson, commenting on the story, "Would You Miss Saturday Mail Delivery?"

4. By the Numbers: 30.8. That's the number of inches of snow that Harvey Leonard, Chief Meteorologist for WCVB Ch. 5, is projecting Greater Boston could possibly get from the blizzard that will slam into the region on Friday.

5. By The Numbers: 21,437. That is the population for Stoneham, according to the 2010 Census. However, a more accurate count, used for local legislative redistricting, as well as grant writing, comes from the Annual Town Census, so make sure you fill yours out today.