Stormy, cold conditions brewing for Northeast right after Easter
While the weather will cooperate for most outdoor activities through much of Easter, a brewing storm has eyes for the Northeast in the form of rain, snow, cold air and wind for next week.
AccuWeather Long-Range Expert Joe Lundberg talks about severe weather, lower temperatures and more for next week.
In the wake of a coastal rainstorm, much of the Northeast can expect dry weather most of the time through the Easter weekend. However, a major storm is brewing for the first week of April, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
Brisk to blustery conditions will follow the storm that drenched many coastal areas from Wednesday to Thursday. The last of the rain exited eastern New England on Friday night, with the precipitation in parts of Maine changing to snow at the tail end.
Overall, temperatures ended up near the seasonal average to a few degrees above on Friday with high temperatures ranging from near 40 in northern Maine to the mid-60s in southeastern Virginia.
There is some trouble on the near horizon for part of the Easter weekend.
"We are tracking a weak disturbance from the Midwest that will roll through the region this weekend," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said.
"As it stands right now, the bulk of that moisture will be focused from the central Appalachians to the mid-Atlantic but will pivot through during Saturday night for the most part, when it may be least impactful for most people," Dombek explained.
As the system moves through, clouds, rain and drizzle will press from west to east. Some of the rain may affect areas from the central Appalachians to the Ohio Valley on Saturday afternoon and may linger along the mid-Atlantic coast on Sunday morning, so some sunrise Easter services on Sunday could be damp.
"A much larger and slower-moving storm will gather moisture over the middle of the United States later this weekend, and that is destined to bring an extended period of wet, stormy and even some wintry conditions next week for the Northeast," Dombek said.
Current indications suggest an arm of rain will extend across the Ohio Valley on Sunday and may reach parts of the central Appalachians later in the day and during the evening.
Early next week, the storm's moisture will expand toward the mid-Atlantic coast and farther north over the Northeast. Where the air is cold enough, wet snow or a wintry mix will break out in upstate New York and central and northern New England with rain farther to the south.
Several inches of snow may fall on the northern tier of the Northeast by midweek.
Thunderstorms, some of which may become severe, are also possible in parts of the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and the mid-Atlantic coast on Wednesday.
Storm could become a 'bomb' and create wintry conditions
As the storm nears the New England coast, it could strengthen rapidly. Should the central barometric pressure of the storm crash at least 24 millibars or 0.71 of inches in 24 hours or less, it would undergo bombogenesis, and a bomb cyclone will be born. Regardless of the status of the storm, it will strengthen enough to create a long period of cold winds in its wake.
The same storm may slide into the Northeast and stall by the middle of the week, where it will drag down chilly air. The air may become cold enough for snow showers from the Great Lakes to the central Appalachians, along with gusty winds and conditions more typical of late February rather than early April.
This is also the type of pattern that can reinstate freezing temperatures in areas where blossoms or blooms have occurred or are occurring not only in the Northeast but also in parts of the Midwest and Southeast states, so protective measures may need to be taken.
Winds are likely to remain active much of next week, which will cancel out the effects of April sunshine and result in AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures of 5-15 degrees lower than the actual temperature.
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