- Widespread 2-3″ of rain (NJ/NYC/LI/CT)
- Strong/Damaging winds (highest along coasts + mountains of VT/NH)
- Power outages
- 6″ up to 2 feet+ of heavy snow in parts of VT/NH/ME
- Sleet / freezing rain in between.
Good morning! As alluded to my Saturday post we have a major Nor’easter approaching today across the Northeast. A deepening low pressure off the coast and blocking high locking in the cold airmass slams the door on winter with a bang! This will be a widespread dynamic storm dropping basically the entire kitchen sink of elements, including 2-3″ of flooding rains, strong to damaging winds, power outages, sleet/freezing rain to accumulating snow. To keep this as brief as possible I’ll cover 3 zones, providing graphics and go over timing, type, and totals.
Zone 1 Tri-State (NJ/NYC/LI/Hudson Valley)
This is strictly a rain/wind event, beginning this morning. Downpours will become steadier and heavier throughout the day and into the evening commute, before tapering off before midnight.
Expect up to 2-3″ of rain. Flooding will be an issue in the usual prone areas including coastal sections. Winds will ramp up later in the day and will be whipping into early evening hours to 30-40mph, gusting up to 50-60mph along the coast! Power outages are likely, especially with saturated ground.
Zone 2 (CT/MA)
1-2″ of rain can be expected through out the day, ending by Thursday morning. Where it gets trickery is up in Mass, esp in the higher elevations in W MA and across nothern parts of the state. A change over to a mix of heavy sleet / freezing rain (possible snow but little accumulation) later in the evening into Thursday morning.
Strong winds across both states will be a problem, esp in foothills and the Cape which could see 50-70mph. Isolated hurricane force gusts possible (74+mph). Expect power outages as well. Winds taper off mid day Thursday.
Zone 3 (VT/NH and Seacoast)
Toughest part of forecast, especially for the Seacoast. Sections of S NH along the coast and SE ME will begin as heavy rain, eventually changing over to mix of heavy sleet to cement snow. Rain begins to move into region between 2-4pm and switches to mix of slop fairly quickly, so plan to leave earlier for evening commute.
This storm will plaster cement type snow overnight into Thursday, pinwheeling and lingering into Friday in the most northern parts of the ski mountains. 1-2 feet is possible including the Loaf (isolated higher amount possible). From Derry to Durham over to Dover is a toss up, depending heavy sleet which keeps snow totals down. But expect around 3-6″.
You won’t have to travel far north to see those totals significantly jump. It’ll be breezy today but strong to damaging gusts pickup over night into Thursday morning. Heavy snow and sleet accumulating on branches, weakened trees along with a saturated ground, combined with powerful winds is a recipe for widespread power outages.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back soon for more coverage and an update for Mondays eclipse (which is looking more favorable).
It’s 80 in Tampa !! Beat it !!