Here is Meteorologist Larry Cosgrove's take on weekend storm

[Planetsnow]

Watching the various twists and turns in the numerical models recently is just about as enjoyable as viewing consecutive episodes of "Carnivale" on HBO (trust me, it's bad; something like "Twin Peaks" meets "The Early Show on CBS"). Earlier indications by usually reliable computer outlooks like the ECMWF turn into mush, as you slowly realize that the "Alberta Clipper" storm that is unfolding during the next 24 hours is just that, not some sort of "Superstorm 93 redux". Some had already pegged the developing event as "Kennedy Storm 2", "Son of January 1996", and "Replay of President's Day 2003". Others insisted a southward turn that would cripple the Carolinas. But reality is setting in now that the time of apparent weather draws closer. A southern (and fairly vigorous) variant of the "Clipper" family, this system will dump some fairly healthy amounts of snow across parts of the Midwest and Northeast. Not a superstorm, by any means, but something that should cheer up the most desperate of snow enthusiasts in places like Downers Grove IL, Cambridge OH, and North Wales PA.

To get a true monster winter storm, the 500MB configuration would have to be quite amplified, with strong ridges in the PNA and NAO positions, perhaps a fading Grand Banks vortex, and a new cAk motherlode taking shape over W ONT. Instead, we have a modest blocking signature stretching from AK into the Intermountain Region, a strong but elongated core of Arctic air centered over N QC, and an intensifying Rex block between Ireland and Iceland. So what happens here is aptly described by the latest UKMET and ECMWF output: a potent shortwave in the Northwest Territories links with energy now entering BC, rotates around the closed low in the Ungava Peninsula, and deepens as it approaches the mean trough axis around 75-80 W Longitude. The low begins to tap Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean moisture tomorrow afternoon through Saturday, dumping a mantle of 4-12" snows from SE MN....NE IA....S WI....N IL....N, C IN....N, C OH....extreme N WV....N MD....PA....N DE....NJ....S NY....CT....RI....SE MA before taking aim at NWF on Day 3/4. judging by the structure of this disturbance at 60-84 hours, the snowfall may become convective as it organizes from E PA....NE MD into southern New England, so an area bounded by Frederick MD....Milford PA....Scituate MA....Montauk Point LI NY could see localized snow amounts exceed a foot. South of the depicted storm track, however, scant mixed precipitation or rain showers are probable before the impulse exits the scene on Sunday morning (followed by a day or so of piercing cold and wind).

Other disturbances will dig southeastward from BC into the middle Missouri Valley, so weak follow-up precipitation is likely in parts of the Great Plains and Upper Midwest on Saturday. The cold air intrusion behind the Alberta Clipper may actually reach the Deep South this weekend, at least in the lower levels. Over the western states, however, life under the ridge complex will be charmed in CA and the Desert Regions, while continued onshore flow drops rain and elevation snows in the Vancouver Island and Puget Sound vicinities.

And did you know that Adrienne Barbeau (of "Maude" and "Escape From New York" fame) is in the cast of Carnivale? Didn't think so....

[adelphi_sky]

Hmmmm. I'm about 40 miles south or Frederick, MD. I would how much snow will that mean for me. If they get a foot, then maybe 8" for me?

[Planetsnow]

You will probably get 16, not 8

[ohiostorm]

I live very close to Cambridge, OH. Just about 45 minutes NW. What do you see for us?