WeatherFanatics: Snowstorm to Focus From NYC to Boston Saturday Night

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Snowstorm to Focus From NYC to Boston Saturday Night

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

December 14,2013; 3:25PM,EST

Heavy snow will focus on the Northeast Saturday night, as snow diminishes over the Midwest. However, far-reaching travel disruptions will continue.
The snowstorm has already spanned more than 1,000 miles. Snow has reached every major city and rural area from St. Louis to Boston, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City. The area encompasses about 110 million people.
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Thanks to recent Arctic air making roads and sidewalks much colder compared to previous storms, enough snow to shovel and plow has occurred in Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri and is in store from parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey to much of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

@Leadership_One tweeted: "Snowstorm to Impact More Than 1,000 Miles From St. Louis to Boston. Looks like Old Man Winter is showing up early" Additional Relevant Tweets and Social Media Reaction

Not only will the storm make roads and sidewalks slippery, raising the risk for slip-and-fall incidents and auto accidents, but it is likely to cause many flight delays and cancellations. The visibility will be poor, runways will become snow covered and aircraft will need to be de-iced.

The storm could cause shipping delays and force Christmas shoppers to change their plans for the weekend.
The recent cold weather, this storm, and others will translate to plenty of snow on the ski slopes.
In the wake of the storm, areas made wet and slushy from melting during the day on Sunday will freeze on Sunday night, producing patches of black ice.

Midwest

Long stretches of the I-69, I-75, I-80 and I-90 corridors have been hit with heavy snow, falling at the rate of up to an inch per hour in the Midwest.
Even though the snow will wind down Saturday night from west to east in this area, many secondary roads and city streets will remain snow covered.
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The storm and furious snowfall will focus over the Northeast Saturday night.

Mid-Atlantic, Central Appalachians

Mostly rain is forecast from Roanoke, Va., to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore with little or no accumulation. Some roads may be slippery from northern Virginia to northern Maryland.
However, farther northeast along the I-95 corridor, from northern Delaware to around New York City, the change to rain following snow and/or a wintry mix will take longer, leading to several inches accumulation and more widespread slippery travel.
Snow and a wintry mix are likely to impact play during the Army-Navy Classic on Saturday afternoon and evening at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. This wintry game will occur just less than a week after heavy snow fell during the Eagles-Lions game. Snow buried the field and had players sliding and shoveling snow with their feet during last Sunday's game.
From central and northern Pennsylvania to upsdate New York, where the cold air hangs on longer or lingers through the duration of the storm, heavy snow will fall with some communities receiving 6 to 12 inches of snow. Roads will be slushy to snow covered over much of the I-80, I-81, I-87, I-88, and I-90 corridors.
In part of the Northeast the snowfall rate will increase to 1 to 3 inches per hour during the height of the storm. Snowfall rates this intense can overwhelm road crews and a heavy dose of ice melting compounds. The only thing that will prevent this storm from delivering a large swath of 2 to 3 feet of snow will be its relatively fast movement.

Northern Appalachians, New England

A general swath of 6- to 12-inch snowfall is likely to reach from much of the Hudson Valley of New York, northern Connecticut, central and western Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. However, some locations from upstate New York into northern New England and neighboring Canada can receive between 12 and 18 inches (30 and 46 centimeters) from this storm.
In much of New England, the storm will linger into Sunday with ongoing travel disruptions. While flurries will occur over the central and southern Appalachians and downwind of the Great Lakes over the Midwest, the storm will be over across the Ohio Valley and coastal mid-Atlantic, and travel conditions will improve.

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