Major Storm System to Impact the Northeast...

Winter Storm Warnings are currently in effect from southwestern New York State, Southward into western and central Pennsylvania, eastern West Virginia and the Maryland Panhandle.  Within this region, the potential exists for a foot or more of snow during the next 24-36 hours, as a powerful low pressure system winds up along the Atlantic coast.

This is a very unusual situation for late April.  The combination of a heavy, wet snow falling on fully greened trees will create a particularly dangerous situation including the likelihood of widespread power outages over a significant period of time in the affected areas.  Add strong and gusty winds into the situation, and the threat becomes even more significant.

Below are the images depicting the likelihood of 4, 8 and 12 inches of snow, respectively, during the period 8pm EDT today through 8pm EDT Monday:

The precipitation will begin as rain and then change to snow as cold air is ingested into the system later tonight and into Monday.

Precipitation is already breaking out across the coastal region at this time, and is working its way further inland:

Very heavy rainfall driven by strong, gusty Easterly winds will create a significant flooding threat to the East of the heavy snow area, from New Jersey on up into Maine.

Rainfall amounts of 3-5 inches are likely from New Jersey on Northward across  the cities of New York, Boston and into much of Maine tonight into Monday:

As mentioned before, winds will also be a problem, even in areas that don't experience snowfall.  Sustained winds of 20-30 mph with gusts of 30-40 mph will create further problems in the "warm sector" of this storm system.  This includes the New York City and Boston areas.

This is obviously a major storm system affecting a very heavily populated area.  If you live across this region, please use extreme caution with travel and other activities on Monday.  Particularly if you live within the Winter Storm Warning areas, please take the time this evening to make sure that you have extra supplies, including non-perishable food, batteries, etc., on hand in case you lose power for a significant period of time.

If you have flights into or out of any of the major airports across the region tonight or Monday, it would be a very good idea to check ahead for delays and/or cancellations.

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