Saturday, February 28, 2015

Another Weekend Winter System

Sure felt nice out there on this last day of February 2015 didn't it? What an incredible recording breaking extreme month it was though. The numbers are staggering. One of the coldest on record for many and the snowiest month ever for many as well. I will have a comprehensive round up of the historical month in a few days , but for now there is some more wintry weather to talk about. It will be the 6th weekend in a row with a winter storm affecting the region !
The storm system we are watching is rather weak but has a decent precip field associated with it due to a nice interaction with the sub tropical jet and some Gulf and Atlantic moisture being drawn into it. The system is now dropping snow across the nation's heartland and will follow the jet stream right into Southern New England, arriving late Sunday morning or early afternoon spreading a swath of accumulating snow into the area. The precip will have to overcome a layer of dry air at the onset, so snow should start off fairly light. Once we saturate the lower and mid levels of the atmosphere , it should fall at a good clip Sunday late afternoon and eve for most areas. We will have to watch a mix line coming close to the south coast, especially for Cape Cod and the Islands. Due to that and the likelihood of lower snow to liquid ratio's down there, I have held amounts back a bit there. I do not foresee any coastal concerns with wind or flooding, but the winds will certainly increase behind the storm system on Monday with a fresh injection of arctic air taking over the region. The snow/mix should wrap up from west to east Monday morning. Below is a map of the snowfall amounts I am expecting. Areas near and south of the pink dotted line at least run a risk of some mixing.
 

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

More Cold & Snow Is In The Forecast Ahead

There is a big winter storm starting to affect portions of the southeast US this afternoon. It looks to bring heavy accumulations of snow and ice to Tennessee again, also into West Virginia, Virginia and even North Carolina. Lighter snows should clip southern Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey , southern New York State and Southern New England later this eve through Thursday eve. 

The Jet stream looks to take this just far enough south to spare Southern New England from another significant snowfall, though it does not appear we will escape from seeing at least a few flakes and some light fluffy accumulations once again from this next storm system. The center of the storm will pass well southeast of Nantucket tomorrow eve. The air will be quite dry especially for areas near and north of the Massachusetts Turnpike, so not expecting much if any accums there but further to the south the northern fringe of the ocean storm snow shield should bring light snow into the region. Like this mornings system, mid levels are quite dry, but closer to the surface there will be more moist air and just enough to squeeze out some fluffy flakes to areas near the South Coast. Important to note the system still could tick north a bit, so I am watching that potential closely still today (see graphic below).
Click on Images for a larger view
One other factor here will be developing NNE winds which will lead to some ocean effect or ocean enhancement for parts of eastern Massachusetts, esp the South Shore and Cape Cod.

 The air will be plenty cold enough at all levels to support snow. No issues with any mixing. Light snow could break out as early as 10am- noontime along the south coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island and more towards 1-2pm for areas of eastern MA, Cape Cod and the Islands. Most locations are done by dark , except for the Cape and the Islands where some ocean effect light snow could continue through the eve. 

High temperatures on Thursday throughout Southern New England will range from about 16° to the far NW to about  25-30° on Nantucket. Again, a fairly low impact event though the timing could cause some issues near the shores during Thursdays afternoon/eve commute with reduced visibility and slick spots on any untreated surfaces. 

The cold is not in any rush to go anywhere across New England as we approach March, but the jet stream will lift north this weekend into next week creating a boundary for more precipitation and storminess to form. We should be on the cold side of that again ! Below are my thoughts for accumulations tomorrow  Stay tuned and thank you for reading     ~Anthony  

2014-2015 Seasonal Snowfall Totals (updated 2/25)