Major Winter Storm Update

For this major winter storm update, All winter weather warnings have been removed from Arkansas and Missouri with only a few remaining in Mississippi as the storm begins to pull east. Additional Warnings and Advisories have been added further Northeast up into Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.   All other Warnings and advisories remain in effect for today as the primary low begins to transition to its secondary location.  This change will bring in the snowfall to the Eastern Carolinas bringing it almost to the coast line by Saturday morning.  As a reminder for all who have so far been disappointed by the situation they find themselves in, this storm is far from over and will be impacting your regions this evening and overnight tonight.  Further north you will see snow move in even later than that as the storm pulls to the Northeast.   The Southern New England area won’t see its first flakes until mid morning on Saturday.

The Blizzard Watch for Philadelphia through the NYC metro areas has been upgraded to a Blizzard Warning.  The previous forecast for these areas holds with totals now expected around the higher ends of the limits as the storm appears to be moving slightly further north than the models had yesterday, but as I had been concerned about all along.   This is why I did not put out totals for Southern New England last night.  I was not confident that the models had the situation correctly profiled and by this morning my concern was completely proven correct.

To reiterate the Southern New England update I gave on Facebook,

BLIZZARD WARNING: for the Island of Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island from 1 PM Saturday until 7 AM Sunday. 8-12 inches of snow is expected to fall in this area and strong winds up to 55 mph,  will create blizzard conditions in this area. Coastal Flooding is expected to be an issue on these winds.

Winter Storm Warnings have been issued for the South Coast of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut including Cape Cod and Nantucket, beginning at 4 AM Saturday and ending 7 AM Sunday. 6-10 inches of snow is expected in this area. Snow will begin by mid-morning and intensify in the early afternoon and evening with snow fall rates around 1 inch per hour. Gusty winds of up to 50 mph will combine with high snowfall rates to bring near blizzard conditions at times before midnight with visibilities under half a mile.

A Winter Storm Warning has also been issued for Coastal Plymouth County and Interior Southern Rhode Island for 4-8 inches of snow. Snow will begin by mid-morning and taper off after midnight. Heavy snow and wind gusts up to 45 mph will bring visibilities down to under a mile during the late afternoon and evening on Saturday.

Winter Weather Advisories have been issued for the remainder of Plymouth and Bristol County including Brockton and for Northern Rhode Island for 3-6 inches of snow. Winds in this area will gust to 35 mph and reduce visibilities for a time.

These snowfall totals can be very hit or miss at this time. The cut off for snow from this storm is very sharp and a shift in the track of just 50 miles can dramatically alter the snowfall totals here. I will keep on this system for the remainder of the day and will be up all night tracking the very latest in details

Snow will leave the Northeast Sunday morning and early afternoon.

Robert Millette

Meteorologist

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