According to The Weather Channel:
More than 67 million Americans in 19 states are under blizzard warnings or winter storm warnings as Winter Storm Jonas cranks up over the South and marches toward the East Coast, generating an expanding swath of snow and ice across both regions. Another 21 million people are under National Weather Service watches and advisories for winter weather in anticipation of Jonas’ impacts.
Jonas had already dumped more than a foot of snow in eastern Kentucky as of late Friday afternoon. A foot of snow was reported in western North Carolina with a half-foot or more of snow in parts of Tennessee, upstate South Carolina, western Virginia, West Virginia and Arkansas. Thundersnow was reported in the Nashville area Friday morning with snowfall rates of an inch per hour. Even heavier snowfall rates of 2 inches per hour have been observed in Jackson, Kentucky, and Roanoke, Virginia, Friday morning.
Conditions will go downhill rapidly Friday evening through Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic and portions of the Northeast where blizzard conditions, strong winds and coastal flooding will develop. The National Weather Service has now issued blizzard warnings from northern Virginia to Long Island, including Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Heavy snow and strong winds will bring travel to a grinding halt, between late Friday and Sunday morning.
Snow and Ice Impacts
- At least 1 foot of snow: Eastern Kentucky into a large part of West Virginia, western North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, D.C., northern Delaware, far southern Pennsylvania, central New Jersey and the New York City area. Amounts exceeding 2 feet are possible in parts of western Virginia, eastern West Virginia, central Maryland and the District of Columbia.
- At least 6 inches of snow: Northern New Jersey, Lower Hudson Valley, southern Connecticut, southern Rhode Island, southeast Massachusetts; central Kentucky and parts of Middle Tennessee; otherwise, a narrow zone immediately surrounding the 1-foot zone.
- Damaging ice: Damaging ice accumulations of 1/4 inch or more have already been reported from parts of Upstate South Carolina into the Piedmont and foothills of North Carolina. Damaging ice accumulations may affect the Charlotte and Greensboro/Winston-Salem metropolitan areas. The Raleigh-Durham area may also see enough ice to break tree limbs and down power lines. The threat of ice accumulation has ended in Kentucky, but some locations saw 1/4 to 3/10 inch of ice accumulation before changing over to snow.
Photo credit: weather.com
