Snow to Eye DC to Boston on First Day of Spring

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

March 19,2015; 10:53PM,EDT

 

 

A snowstorm will set its sights on the Interstate-95 and I-81 corridors of the Northeast on Friday, the first day of spring.
Astronomical spring officially arrives on Friday, March 20, at 6:45 p.m. EDT, but millions in the Northeast will be slipping, shoveling or facing other problems due to snow.
The storm threatens to slow travel and cause disruptions to daily activities from northern Virginia to central Massachusetts, home to approximately 45 million people, as the week draws to a close and the first weekend of spring begins.

While much of the snow will melt on major roads and in urban areas during the middle of the day, slippery and slushy conditions are in store where the snow begins late at night, falls during the early morning or continues into the evening.

Poor visibility and deicing operations will contribute to airline delays and potential flight cancellations from Washington, D.C., to Boston, with the greatest impact likely from Philadelphia to New York City.
The greatest amount of snow will accumulate on grassy areas. However, paved and concrete surfaces that receive little or no direct sunshine during the daylight hours will be colder and prone to picking up a few inches of snow.

The swath of heaviest snow, 3-6 inches, will stretch from part of the West Virginia Panhandle to western Maryland, central and eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and interior southeastern New York state. Cities within this swath include Martinsburg, West Virginia; Hagerstown, Maryland; Harrisburg, State College and Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Patterson, New Jersey. This includes a large part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-78.
A change to plain rain is likely from northern Virginia, including Washington, D.C., to southern New Jersey, but not before a slushy accumulation occurs.
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Rain will mix in at the height of the storm from Baltimore and Philadelphia and perhaps part of Long Island.
Mostly rain or a wintry mix with little or no accumulation is forecast from Charleston, West Virginia, to Pittsburgh. Less than an inch of snow is likely in the swath from Cleveland to Buffalo and Rochester, New York.
Winds will generally be light with the storm over the interior. However, enough of an onshore breeze combined with high astronomical tides associated with the new moon could result in minor incidents of coastal flooding from southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina to southern New England.
The snow is not likely to be heavy enough to weigh down a great number of tree limbs, so that any power outages should be very sporadic.
Untreated wet surfaces can become icy Friday night as the temperature dips.
Additional waves of cold air are forecast to move in through the first part of April and could lead to additional opportunities for late-season snow in the region.
As a another storm system slices to the east from the Great Lakes on Saturday, there could be a second chance at snow in New England and northern upstate New York, including areas which are likely going to be missed by the first round of snow from Friday.

Farther south, from southern New York state and southern New England to northern Virginia, the snow that falls on Friday will melt on Saturday.
AccuWeather.com and the AccuWeather Network will continue to provide updates throughout the storm.