By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
As communities in the mid-Atlantic continue to dig out from an early-week snowstorm, AccuWeather forecasters are warning that more snow is on the way late this week. Areas from New York City to Philadelphia and Boston could be in the thick of the storm.
“Get ready! We have another storm on the way Thursday night into Friday,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said, adding that the storm will affect a much larger area of the Northeast than the storm that started the week and left hundreds of drivers stranded for more than 18 hours along Interstate 95 in Virginia.
“Here are the ingredients: A fresh injection of cold air will be coming across the Midwest Wednesday and into the Northeast Thursday. We have another jet stream disturbance, which is going to cause a dip in the jet stream across the central parts of the United States Wednesday night into Thursday,” Rayno explained. “That’s going to form the storm on Thursday.”
The exact track and strengthening of the storm will determine which areas will receive the heaviest snow — and just how much will fall.
“This storm will be taking a more southern and eastern track across Virginia then off the Eastern Seaboard, and that track is important because that puts the I-95[corridor] in the snow area,” Rayno said.
The storm on deck from Thursday night to Friday will not only bring snow to parts of Virginia, but also many locations farther to the north that saw only a few flakes of snow or nothing at all from Monday’s intense but compact snowstorm.
“The storm is unlikely to repeat the magnitude of heavy snow in much of Virginia,” Rayno said, but it can still bring heavy snow in part of the Northeast.
The new storm is projected to bring snow and slippery travel to much of the Interstate 95 corridor from northern Virginia to Maine, including in the major metro areas of New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., will get another dose of snow on top of what fell Monday. Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport reported nearly 7 inches of snow as of 7 p.m. Monday, making Monday the airport’s snowiest day since Jan. 13, 2019, when 8.3 inches of snow fell as a part of a storm that totaled 10.3 inches.
Three to 6 inches of snow are predicted from Philadelphia to New York City, Hartford, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. Washington, D.C. could pick up another 1 to 3 inches of snow from the late-week storm.
Farther south, little to no accumulation of snow is anticipated in places like Richmond, Virginia, and much of the lower Chesapeake Bay region.https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?p=ACC3051914128&episodes=1
However, AccuWeather meteorologists will continue to monitor the storm closely as a shift in the track of as little as 30 miles can have significant implications on the impacts, and there are still a range of scenarios on the table. If the storm takes a path farther to the north and west, then a rain and snow mix will occur along the I-95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and part of the New York City area — and that would limit snow accumulations. Areas farther west like the Appalachians could instead be in the storm’s bull’s-eye if a path like that were to play out.
On the other hand, if the storm moves farther to the south and east and heads out to sea sooner, some snow will visit the I-95, but the heaviest snow could fall at the beaches from Virginia to New Jersey as well as Long Island, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The storm will start out as a weak one as it moves eastward and drops snow across parts of the middle Mississippi and Tennessee valleys Thursday.
As it shifts over the southern and central Appalachians later Thursday and Thursday night, it will unleash accumulating snow across the region. Even though the storm will be far from its peak intensity while passing through the region, moderate to heavy snowfall will fall in the West Virginia mountains and areas from northwestern Virginia to southwestern Pennsylvania. Snow accumulations ranging between 3 and 12 inches could lead to travel disruptions along interstates 64, 68, 70, 76, 79 and 81.
After that, the storm is expected to turn northeastward and begin a strengthening process. It could undergo explosive intensification over the Atlantic just off the coastline of the upper mid-Atlantic and New England.
“The storm has the potential to become a bomb cyclone,”AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg said. A bomb cyclone is defined as a storm that’s central pressure plummets by 0.71 of an inch of mercury (24 millibars) within 24 hours. The process could take place between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon, according to Lundberg, who explained that could cause hefty snowfall rates in portions of the mid-Atlantic and New England.
Snowfall rates of 1-3 inches per hour, should they occur with the rapidly strengthening storm, can bring the risk of travel slowdowns and perhaps even shutdowns in part of the Northeast.
Low temperatures could also spell more trouble on the roads even at the onset of the storm. Since temperatures will be starting off 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit lower when compared to Monday’s storm in Virginia and Maryland, road conditions may deteriorate at a swift pace soon after snow begins coming down. A wintry mix will arrive in Washington, D.C., Thursday evening, before snow reaches New York City during the middle of Thursday night. Snow will begin falling a few hours prior to daybreak Friday in Boston.
The intensifying storm could generate other hazards like gusty winds, as well as blowing and drifting of snow on the ground.
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The storm may become strong enough and track in such a way as to unload 1-2 feet of snow in eastern Maine from Friday to Friday night. High winds and poor visibility could not only be equivalent to the impacts of a strong nor’easter, but perhaps a full-blown blizzard.
AccuWeather forecasters urge people in the path of the storm to pay close attention to forecasts as there may be adjustments in the coming days.
