Our storm is coming together over the Pacific Northwest and it will affect millions of people as it tracks toward the east this week.
The "snow bull's-eye" this time around is on West Virginia, Baltimore and over to the Washington, D.C., area, where they will likely see over a foot of snow.
That brings me to my next point, however - it is very difficult to talk about exact snow amounts when the storm we are waiting on hasn't even made landfall yet!
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Our storm is currently spinning southeast of the Aleutian Islands and it will move in later today south of Oregon. It will then drop toward Texas, stealing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday before heading toward the East Coast Friday, hitting New York City on Friday night and passing south of New England on Saturday.
The storm will be relatively weak until Friday, but it will strenghten with that gulf moisture as it lifts toward the northeast. The exact strength is important because the stronger it is, the slower it becomes, and hence the more snow it drops on its way to New England. By the way, this storm will be different compared to most this year because it WILL have enough cold air for mostly snow.
As of right now (still 4 days away), the track of the storm takes the center through Virginia, Maryland, and just south of the Cape and Islands. If this track sticks, we are looking at a full-on snowstorm for Boston, the Cape and Islands, Providence and most of interior southern New England.
Local
There will be a sharp cut-off to the moisture north, which means most of ski country would see very little snow out of this event. Along the coast, including Boston, a rain/snow/mix line is likely and exactly how much snow accumulates will depend a lot on that.
However, expect major travel disruptions on most of our highways and at the airport Friday night into Saturday due to high winds and the heavy rate of snow at times. Coastal areas should also be on guard, as high astronomical tides could coincide with this storm, adding to the potential for a period of rough seas, coastal flooding and beach erosion.
Now, I have to mention that some of our latest computer models/analysis have been dragging the center of the storm father south, which would still mean some snow for Boston, but the biggest impact at that point would be wind and rain for the Cape and Islands and snow for Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Bristol and Plymouth counties in Massachusetts.
