Winter storm to pound New England into Thursday morning after snarling travel from DC to New York City
A major winter storm will continue to bring snow, rain and an icy mix to much of the Northeast and the Upper Midwest through Wednesday night.
"Since this storm will have a great deal of moisture available to it from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, a substantial amount of precipitation is likely," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys.
"VSP has 380 reasons to delay travel today in Virginia - that's how many crashes & stuck vehicles our troopers have responded & are still helping since midnight," Virginia State Police tweeted on Feb. 20, 2019. (Photo/Virginia State Police)
A quick 3-6 inches with locally higher amounts piled up during Wednesday morning from western Maryland and south-central Pennsylvania to the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas. A few locations in the central Appalachians squeezed out 8-10 inches of snow.
This quick burst of snow will continue to advance over northeastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, New York state and New England into Wednesday evening.
All or mostly snow will overspread and fall across northern New York state and New England for the duration of the storm into early Thursday.
Along with low visibility in areas of snow, roads can quickly become slick and snow-covered, leading to treacherous conditions and traffic slowdowns.
Anyone hitting the road from Washington, D.C., to New York City and Boston along Interstate 95 and other major highways, city streets and rural routes should travel with extreme caution and allot extra time into their travel plans.
In most areas that receive snow south of northern New England, an icy mix is in store for several hours.
This wintry mix across the central Appalachians, mid-Atlantic and southern New England will make the existing snow cover heavier and harder to clear, along with perpetuating slippery conditions on cleared roads and sidewalks.
"There could be significant accumulation of ice across parts of northwestern Virginia, easternWest Virginia and southern and central Pennsylvania," Roys said.
A second burst of precipitation will slice from the central Appalachians to southern New England during Wednesday night.
"An ice storm is also possible across interior portions of southern New England later Wednesday night," Roys said.
Where a heavy amount of freezing rain, on the order of 0.25 to 0.50 of an inch or more occurs, is where the likelihood of widespread power outages will exist.
Aircraft deicing and low visibility conditions can lead to delays and cancellations out of major hubs such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York and Boston.
As milder air surges into the region, rain will be the last thing to fall across much of the coastal mid-Atlantic, areas west of the central Appalachians and the southeastern corner of new England during Wednesday night.
Areas farther south and west in New England are likely to receive a light to moderate amount of snow with a slippery zone of ice just inland of the coast.
Download the free AccuWeather app to stay up-to-date on when snow, sleet and ice will begin in your area.
Milder weather will follow the storm on Thursday, allowing for some melting of snow and ice across the region.
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