SIGNIFICANT LATE SEASON WINTER STORM

[WXBUFFJIM]

A winter storm warning is now in effect for a number of cities including Des Moines, Davenport, the Quad Cities, Chicago, Detroit and now into Boston, Allentown, and New York City. Two precip shields to keep an eye on. The first is rotating around the strong upper low with it's associated common head shape. A very classic signature for heavy snowfall with thunder and lightning in it for the midwest overnight into Monday morning. Expect 5-10 inches of heavy wet snow with blowing and drifting snow due to 20-30 mph northeast winds for des moines, davenport and chicago.

Detroit can expect a 4-8 inch snowstorm while New York City sees 4-8 inches of snow as well, less along the coast and in the city, more northwest of town in northwest Jersey. Allentown, PS can expect 3-6 inches of heavy wet snow with 2-5 inches in Harrisburg. There could even be wet snow and sleet mixed with the rain in Philly, Baltimore and Washington. But no major travel problems are expected in those cities due to warm ground. The snows in the major cities are associated with a large precip shield in the southern branch of the jet stream colliding with the northern branch. The two jets come together like that produces heavy precipitation, which is what is forecast for tomorrow for the northeast.

Where is spring? Is is a late april fools or what? The source of the cold air is a high pressure system in southern canada feeding in the cold air much like we saw during the presidents day storm of feb 15-17, 2003.


JIM

[rainstorm]

sounds like a biggie!!

[pojo]

ooo...this may be interesting to watch the system unfold!

[JCT777]

I can tell you that it is snowing quite heavily in my area (as of 10:00 this morning) - about 30 to 35 miles NW of Philadelphia. Temps have actually dropped to 30 degrees since the snow started (temp was 37 degrees at 7 AM). Snow is sticking to non-paved surfaces.