Blizzard Warning, Storm targets East Coast

A Blizzard Warning is in effect for Virginia and Massachusetts as a major winter storm takes shape in the southeastern United States.

The rain/snow line continues to slowly collapse over the Carolinas as surface temperatures begin to approach freezing in places like Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Greenville and Elizabeth City at this hour, which is 4 AM EST. Heavy and steady snow is falling across Virginia with the worst expected near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, where strong winds and heavy snow will cause blizzard conditions, prompting the issuance of a Blizzard Warning.

Blizzard Warning for Virginia

As the storm moves up and along the coast, many coastal locations will slowly get in on the snowfall, but the most snow is expected along the coastline near Norfolk, Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake Virginia, where the Blizzard Warning is in place until 10 PM Saturday night . Blizzard conditions will be found in this area where 6-12 inches of snow will fall. Winds will be sustained at 20-30 mph with gusts to 45 mph reducing visibilities with blowing and drifting snow. Most counties in Virginia remain under a Winter Storm Warning and will see several inches of snow as forecast by Matt and Chris in earlier articles, maps, and posts to the Facebook page.

New Jersey and the Delmarva

The storm will move off the Mid-Atlantic coast late tonight into Saturday morning. While the major metro areas around New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia down to Baltimore and D.C will be spared major snowfalls, regions to those cities Southeast will see snow overspread the area from the South late tonight into the early morning hours of Saturday. The snow will be heavy at times during the morning and early afternoon and will taper off from west to east during the late afternoon and early evening.

Warnings and Advisories

A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect from 3 am to 6 PM EST Saturday for Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, Cumberland and Southeastern Burlington County in New Jersey, Kent and Sussex County in Delaware and Caroline, Dorchester, Worcester, Somerset, St. Mary’s, Talbot, and Wicomico County in Maryland for 4-7 inches of snow. Winds will be out of the northwest at 5-10 mph increasing to 15-20 mph. Winds gusts into the 30 mph range can be expected, especially along the coast. Visibility could drop to less than 1/2 mile. While it’s possible that blizzard conditions could exist for a short time period in this area, a Blizzard Warning will not be issued.

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from Delaware, Eastern Chester, Eastern Montgomery, Lower Bucks and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania, New Castle County in Delaware, Camden, Monmouth, Gloucester, Northwestern Burlington, and Salem County in New Jersey, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Cecil, Central and Southeastern Howard, Central and Southeastern Montgomery, Charles, Kent, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, Southeast Harford and Southern Baltimore County in Maryland as well as Washington D.C. 1-3 inches of snow is generally expected in this area with winds of 10-15 mph gusting to 25 mph. Snow will start from South to North tonight into Saturday morning and end West to East Saturday afternoon into the overnight hours.

New England and Long Island

A major winter storm will strike Southeastern New England with blizzard to near blizzard conditions likely and significant snow accumulations across much of Eastern New England. Snowfall Friday Morning brought a general accumulation of 3-5 inches across Southeast Massachusetts and South-Central Rhode Island with isolated amounts up to 7 inches on parts of Cape Cod and the Islands where snowfall rates briefly reached 1- inches per hour while lighter snowfall amounts occurred to the north and west of Boston.

Snow should overspread the region from Southwest to Northeast during the late morning hours on Saturday. The heaviest snow, and likely blizzard conditions will be between 4 PM and 10 PM, with the snow tapering off from there during the overnight hours.

Warnings and Advisories

A Blizzard Warning is in effect from 7 AM Saturday to 4 AM Sunday for Cape Cod and the Islands, Coastal Plymouth County for 12 to 18 inches of snow. Strong Northeasterly winds of 20-30 miles per hour with gusts to 45 mph will cause blowing and drifting snow to combine with the heavy snowfall to reduce visibilities to less than 1/4 mile at times.

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect from 7 AM Saturday until 4 AM Sunday for Bristol County and Western and Southern Plymouth County Massachusetts for 12-16 inches of snow with isolated higher amounts and considerable blowing and drifting snow with a period of near blizzard conditions as wind gusts get into the 40 MPH range.

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect from 7 AM Saturday to 1 AM Sunday for all of Rhode Island and Essex, Suffolk, Central and Southeast Middlesex, Norfolk Southern Worcester and Northern Bristol County Massachusetts, New London, Tolland, Windham, New Haven, and Middlesex County in Connecticut and Eastern Suffolk County in New York for 4-8 inches of snow and isolated higher amounts possible along Northeast coastal Massachusetts and Southern Rhode Island. Wind gusts to 35 MPH may result in considerable blowing and drifting snow. Blizzard conditions may exist for a short time period along the coast, but they will not last long enough to cause the issuance of a Blizzard Warning in these counties.

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from 7 AM to 10 PM Saturday for Northwest Middlesex, Northern Worcester Franklin Hampshire and Hampden Counties of Massachusetts, Fairfield, Litchfield and Hartford Counties in Connecticut and Western Suffolk county in New York for 3-6 inches of snow.

Areas outside of the advisory will likely see a coating to 3 inches of snow with the 3inches amounts closest to the advisory area.

Lake Effect Snow Warning

A Lake effect snow warning remains in effect until 1 PM EST Sunday for Oswego and Southern Lewis Counties. the highest amounts will near and south of the Tug Hill.

Snow should accumulate 4 to 8 inches during the course of the day on Saturday, and then add another 5 to 10 inches Saturday night with another 2 to 4 inches before the band tapers off on Sunday. This totals too 11 to 22 inches of snow from now until early Sunday afternoon.

For the Jamestown area off Lake Erie, the Lake Effect snow will take a break on Saturday, but will be back later on Saturday night into Sunday.

Robert Millette

Firsthand Weather

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