Feb 17, 2011: Snow Potential Early Next Week

As a warmer air mass moved over the area with partly cloudy skies and a southwest wind, temperatures warmed up well over the forecast, even reaching the mid 60s in Newark! Tomorrow will be even warmer than today, with the potential for Newark to reach the upper 60s, though the warmth will quickly come to an end with a much colder and very windy Saturday, with the first potential snowfall in the area since early February returning for early next week.


Tomorrow's Outlook:

Tomorrow will be a partly to mostly cloudy day with a southwest wind expected. As the cold front will move through the region, some isolated showers are possible in the evening hours, however any rain that does fall will be light and will not amount up to anything significant. High temperatures will be even warmer than today peaking in the lower to mid 60s for the western and central parts of the area, with mid 50s to lower 60s for the eastern parts of the area. There is the potential for places near and southwest of NYC to reach the upper 60s tomorrow.


Weekend Outlook: Much Colder And Windy

While temperatures behind the cold front will not be very cold, they will still return to near average levels, if not slightly below, with high temperatures expected to peak in the upper 30s to mid 40s on Saturday. A strong west wind is expected with wind speeds between 20 and 30 mph with gusts as high as 40 to 50 mph, and while I did not type in the text for a Wind Alert today, I will issue a Wind Alert tomorrow with an update in the late afternoon.

The wind will calm down by Sunday, with temperatures expected to be similar to those of Saturday, however cloud cover will increase overnight ahead of the next storm.


Early-Mid Week: Two Storms Expected

What appeared to be a single storm is now expected to be two waves of low pressure affecting the region, one on Monday morning and the other on Tuesday morning, though there is still uncertainty with the timing. There is a lot of uncertainty on this time frame, and I will discuss this in more details with tomorrow's update, however the first wave is expected to either stay mostly to the north of the area with some light rain/snow showers and high temperatures peaking in the 40s and potentially lower 50s, or it could track further south and bring a cold rain/snow/sleet mix to the area.

The second wave will be further south, and will likely deliver a snowstorm with plenty of cold air, and this wave could either end up to the south of the area, bringing snow to the south, or near the area, bringing a moderate snowstorm to NYC. Stay tuned for more information with tomorrow's update.