As 2013 comes to a close and 2014 dawns on us, Mother Nature appears to be in the spirit of throwing snow on some and blasting most of us with some very, very cold air. We have two power arctic outbreaks ahead of us, but I will focus on the first one this time and the other over the weekend.
First of all. . .please be careful when looking at posted snow maps or model runs on Facebook or Twitter. These snow “forecasts” will likely keep changing some (extent, amount, etc) over the next 48 hours. I can tell you this much with some confidence:
1. The snow may start as rain from DC up through NYC and southern New England late on Thursday, but should quickly transition to all snow as the arctic air will be deep and moving east to join the first batch of precipitation. A second round of precipitation (mainly snow) will move in late Thursday night with more snow as you approach the coast. It will also get windy, if not very windy (near the coast) as the storm explosive strengthens.
2. My first guess on snow is as follows: DC 1″-2″, Baltimore 2″-3″, Philadelphia 3″-5″, coastal NJ (AC-south) 3″-5″, AC-north maybe closer to 5″-8″, NYC 6″-8″, with much more closer to Boston where some will get > 10″.
3. Winds could gust 35-45 mph, possibly higher near the coast.
4. It will get very cold with Friday highs barely reaching 25 for DC-Baltimore to around 20 farther north. Saturday morning lows should be interesting. If there is decent snow cover. . .some might get close to 0F.
The first snowfall map from the Mt. Holly, NJ National Weather Service office is below. I’ll update as necessary.
