New England Blizzard Update

Current Status of Storm
There are two "pieces" to the upcoming New York-New England storm that will merge into one. The first is causing snow from Lake Ontario to near Chicago with rain and thunderstorms as far west as Kansas. The second is from Atlanta to Mobile.

There are already major (greater than 2 hours) flight delays at Chicago with significant delays at Philadelphia, Dallas (both airports) and Houston Hobby. More delays will develop during the day. I'm shocked that the airlines I have checked do not yet have waivers out when the National Weather Service in Boston is calling the looming blizzard "historic." My Airline Crisis Survival Guide is essential reading if you are planning to travel from Philadelphia, north, from today into Saturday night.

Forecast Snowfall
As always, AccuWeather is on top of this and here is our forecast snowfall.
Additional snow is expected to fall on Saturday in the eastern part of this area. In Boston, Providence, Newport, and on Cape Cod winds are expected to gust to 55 mph from Friday evening into Saturday morning. 

10:30am EST: The forecast map above has 6-7" falling in NYC. One late model has amounts closer to a foot along with strong winds. I'm mentioning this because I am on the road for business and it will be a few hours before I can take a second look at this. Regardless of the exact amount, this will be a significant snow for NYC. 

The blizzard watch is in green with a winter storm watch elsewhere. However, I believe blizzard conditions will extend to Concord, Manchester, and southwest to Springfield.


Likely Effects

This means that widespread power failures (if snow sticks to trees and branches bring lines down) along with crippled transportation are likely. Auto, train, and airlines will all be severely affected. 


Roofs may collapse under the weight of the snow, especially during the period of highest winds.

It may be nearly impossible to obtain prescription refills, etc.

So, it is time to prepare for these conditions immediately! AccuWeather works with Lowes stores to insure they have essential supplies in conditions like this. You may wish to start there if you need batteries, flashlights, generators, etc.

Comments

  1. So NWS is now bought into The Weather Channel hype machine. Is AccuWeather next?

    What is supposed to be "historic" about the New England storm? Snowfall rates? Accumulations? Winds? Barometric pressure? "Bombing" rate? Time of year? Amount of Twitter downtime?

    By shear coincidence, NWS Boston has a nice presentation re: the Blizzard of '78. In this presentation, they identify "historic" metrics - none of which seem to be threatened by this storm, unless they want to emphasize this is a "top 20" storm in terms of...something.

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  2. Hi Brian. Please note my text where I talk about Concord to Springfield. This is where I, and AccuWeather, believe the most snow will fall and it will be historic in those areas.

    There may be gusts above 55 mph in some places and that -- combined with two feet of snow -- may well create a historic situation.

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