Gravity Wave From Virginia Through Boston

If you weren't paying attention you might have missed a Blog Comment this morning by Hunter Outten, noting that the NWS issued a statement about a "Gravity Wave" early this morning, which showed up on radar as a heavy snow band with high winds. Hunter even got a video of it.

"STRONG INERTIAL GRAVITY WAVE NOTED IN SFC RADAR DATA...WITH 5-9MB PRESSURE PERTURBATION AND WIND GUSTS TO 60KTS NOTED...ALONG WITH WIND DAMAGE REPORTED ON THE NORTHERN DELMARVA. THIS FEATURE TIMES OUT ACROSS LONG ISLAND AND COASTAL CT FROM 9-12Z...HAVE ISSUED A HIGH WIND WARNING TO REFLECT THIS."

If you look at this radar animation, you can see the heavy snow band, first off the coast of Virginia, then moving up through Delaware, towards NYC but disappearing (probably due to the angle that the radars are looking at the storm and the lack of radar data over the ocean), later to reappear moving towards Boston.

What's a Gravity Wave? It's a long answer (read more on WikiPedia or Habyhints) It is basically a wave in the atmosphere which can cause increased convergence at the surface (and therefore, higher winds and heavy snow). This wave was probably responsible for the following wind gusts:

Lewes, DE: 63 mph Atlantic City, NJ: 60 mph Eldora, NJ: 59 mph Sussex, DE: 54 mph

Downed trees and power lines were also reported in Dover and Georgetown, DE and Centrevelle, Denton, Easton, Hollywood and Chestertown, MD. Outside of this event, this storm was not known for its high winds.