We've waited for this forecast for a very long time in the northeast and New England. Snow, and a lot of it is coming this weekend. Businesses and winter sports enthusiasts couldn't be happier to see snow maps like these. Commuters won't be as thrilled, but it is winter after all so we can't complain too much about the upcoming weekend storm.
The winter storm or as we call it in the north... Nor'easter will be moving northeast and bringing a northeast wind component (that's why it's called a nor'easter) Saturday into Sunday. Snowflakes will fly from the West Virginia mountains and points west of DC and Philly (no snow for you) all the way up to Maine.
The locations that have the best opportunity for more than half a foot of snow are the Lehigh Valley, Catskills, Berkshires. The biggest cities to get heavy snow will be NYC (changes from rain to snow), Hartford, Providence and Boston.
It's a classic nor'easter storm track that is south of the I 95 corridor, but this storm track doesn't hook it into the Gulf of Maine. So our friends in central and northern Maine miss out on the heaviest snow. You'll have to wait until next week for that...
But let's get back to the storm for the weekend because there are several coming in the next couple of weeks (and months, yes Winter is about to REALLY make a comeback).
This is a coastal Maine storm, meaning the coast has the best opportunity for heavy snow of more than 6 inches. I know, ten years ago 6 inches of snow wasn't a big deal in Maine. We are starving for snow and the southern coast hasn't seen any so far this season.
Heading down I95 to Boston you see where the accumulation will be significant. It remains to be seen if Hartford can cash in, but right now I'm leaning towards at least plowable snow there, too. I expect NYC to mix and then change over to snow as the storm phases with energy when it moves east of the 40/70 Benchmark. North Jersey gets hammered by this storm, but the jersey shore gets nothing.
It's going to be at least a few more weeks before Philadelphia sees significant snow. The 700 day snow drought continues. At least they have the Eagles, right? We need snow in Boston, just look at the Patriots season.
Things get quite interesting the next few weeks with bowling balls of energy coming down the weather highway (my word for jet stream). As warming in the stratosphere is displaced and pieces of the polar vortex head our way I can see much bigger storms for late Jan and Feb. All we need is a big Greenland blocking high pressure system to lock in the cold air and I think we get it.
Looking ahead to next Wednesday mornin in northern New England I expect a lot of snow for the higher elevations thanks to the much juicier storm and inland runner storm track. We'll miss out on the coast for next week's storm.
Total precipitation (includes rain and snow) will be in the order of more than 2 to 4 inches or snow by Thursday of Jan 19. We've got the moisture. Now let's see how much cold air we can get to bring winter back to life.
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Have any good pizza lately? Best, Jason
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