Feb 24: Major Storm To Produce Rain And Snow

As soon as we get done with the first storm, yet another storm is expected to impact the area, however this time, there will be more snow than the previous storm. The storm is currently located off the East Coast, with precipitation extending into Virginia, eastern Maryland and southern Delaware. The precipitation is currently moving northeast.

What we have here is a storm that is going to take a very unusual track, which will result in a scenario that is very different than a typical storm. The storm is going to continue to move northeast then north while rapidly intensifying, however it is then going to start moving northwest, and then west. A typical storm would move northeast or east. As a result, this storm is going to pull in colder air from its west, that due to the counterclockwise rotation of the storm, enters the southern part of the storm. Meanwhile, the warmer air from the ocean moves onshore in New England, and gets carried into the storm's eastern and northern sides, resulting in mainly rain and a wintry mix for those areas. This is why we are looking at a scenario where it could snow in Washington DC and Philadelphia, and at the same time rain in Boston and Maine.

The storm is then going to enter land, somewhere near Long Island, then it is forecast to move west until it stalls between New York City and the Hudson Valley. As the storm stalls, much colder air will the enter the storm, with most of the areas that saw rain changing over to a wintry mix or snow, however the amount of time that it takes for this changeover to happen will be different in each place.

Storm Impacts:

The storm should produce potentially heavy snow in central and northern New Jersey, with over a foot of snow possible in these areas. The further south you go, the less the snowfall amounts will be. I am currently expecting New York City to have main snow with some mixing, with a total of 6 to 10 inches of snow, though I could raise the amounts for NE NJ and NYC slightly later tonight.

Further east, into eastern Long Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, heavy rain is expected at first. Up to potentially 2 inches of rain may fall in some areas, with flooding possible. The rain then changes over to a mix and snow, however accumulations should be generally light in those areas.

Below is my snow map for this storm. If needed, slight adjustments could be made to the map later tonight. Some of those possible adjustments could be to shift the accumulation areas slightly east in NE NJ, Long Island and Connecticut.