A major nor’easter is expected to take shape midweek and unload the biggest snowstorm in years across a good portion of the Northeast. Snowfall totals are expected to be measured in feet in some areas across the interior as winds ramp up and create near-blizzard conditions for parts of the region late Wednesday into Thursday morning.
But, one factor will keep the storm from becoming a full-on “snowmaggedon,” and that will be it’s forward speed. It’ll be a fast-moving storm, which will keep overall snow totals down. Even still, at the storm’s peak, snow is expected to come down at a rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour.
“All the ingredients are now coming together for our snowstorm, and I really don’t see a way out of this for many cities across the Northeast,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. “When Atlantic moisture gets pulled into the storm off the coast on Wednesday, that’s when the storm will really get going,” he added.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm watches and warnings Tuesday across eight states spanning from North Carolina to Massachusetts ahead of the storm. More snow is anticipated from the developing nor’easter than from all of the storms last winter combined in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.
Precipitation will start out as snow in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., but a change over to a wintry mix then all rain will limit total accumulations. D.C. is looking at accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, and Baltimore is expected to pick up 2 to 4 inches.
Mixing will also cut down on snow totals in Philadelphia, but the City of Brotherly Love could be buried under 4 to 8 inches of snow when the storm is done. That’s more than the city saw during all of last winter when only 0.3 of an inch of snow fell during the entire season.
Forecasters are warning that the storm will hit hard and fast with major disruptions to travel and even travel shutdowns, as well as shipping delays, school closings and power outages from this blockbuster storm. Even where some students and people are working from home during the storm, power outages could throw a big wrench into that plan. Some areas may not only pick up the heaviest snowfall in several years, but this snow could also rival December snowfall records.
A broad swath of 12-18 inches of snow is projected to fall from northwestern Virginia and northeastern West Virginia to part of northern Maryland, south-central and eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, southeastern New York state and southern New England. Within this area, some places can pick up a 24-inch snowfall amount with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 30 inches.
Snowfall of this magnitude has the potential to shut down travel and lead to major delays of shipments at a time when a critical distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has begun.
