Disruptive winter storm bringing significant ice, heavy snow to Northeast
An enormous weather system that has already snarled travel in parts of the country will continue to spread its far-flung winter weather impacts to the northeast corner of the nation.
In the wake of a winter storm, a burst of much colder air will sweep across the Northeast late this week.
An enormous winter storm that snarled travel from the Southwest to the Midwest and put more than 22 million people under winter storm warnings in the United States early Wednesday is far from over. Its far-flung impacts will continue to stretch into the Northeast with snow and ice creating adverse travel conditions across the northern tier into Friday, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
Most of the ice portion of the storm has already ended from central New York on west, but problems remain with approximately 930,000 utility customers without power, mainly in the Upper Midwest from the storm as of Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US.
Dangerous travel conditions will continue from Michigan to upstate New York and in a large portion of central New England, where pockets of 0.25 to 0.50 of an inch of freezing rain occurred instead of sleet. The risk of trees and power lines coming down will continue into Thursday night, even where precipitation has tapered off or where temperatures have inched above freezing.
Periods of a wintry mix are in store for Boston into Thursday night, making roads and sidewalks slippery and leading to travel delays. Aircraft deicing operations will be needed at Boston Logan International Airport.
Heavier snow will fall farther to the north from the storm into Friday, much to the delight of skiing interests. A broad swath of 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) of snow is in store from central Ontario and southern Quebec to central and northern Maine. Within this zone, a pocket of 12-18 inches (30-45 cm) of snow will fall from northern Vermont and New Hampshire to northwestern Maine and part of the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
Since the bulk of the storm's moisture has been and will continue to focus along a more west-to-east swath rather than south-to-north, very little precipitation will likely fall near and south I-80 for the duration of the storm. In most cases, only very spotty rain showers will follow after the initial surge of rain and mixed precipitation at midweek.
A vast sea of record-challenging warm air, centered over the Southern states combined with limited moisture, will be the driving force behind the little precipitation in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England and the sharp southern edge between snow and ice and rain showers.
Temperatures may rival historical high temperatures for Feb. 23 on Thursday in cities such as Washington, D.C. The record of 70 F from 1922 will be challenged in Pittsburgh. The temperature surged into the 80s in Washington, D.C., and has shattered the old record of 78, which was set in 1874.
A burst of much colder air will sweep southeastward in the wake of the storm from Friday into Saturday. For example, high temperatures will trend downward by about 40 degrees in Washington, D.C., compared to the May-like warmth on Thursday. The high on Friday will be around 60 F, then Saturday's high will be in the low 40s.
With the aid of fresh snow cover, temperatures will drop into the teens, single digits and even below zero over the northern tier of the Northeast on Friday night.
As a pair of weak storms pushes eastward across the region from Friday night to Saturday, a sneaky period of snow or flurries is possible from northern Maryland and West Virginia and to points farther to the north. At the same time, rain showers and perhaps a light wintry mix can occur farther south in Virginia and Delaware.
It is possible that rather than moisture from the two storms blending, a zone in between brings little or no precipitation. One storm will pass through New England and the other will push across the Southeast states.
There could be just enough snow or a wintry mix to make some roads slippery during the first part of the weekend in portions of the mid-Atlantic, the central Appalachians and southern New England, depending on the moisture pattern of the two storms.
Yet another sneaky storm may spread a swath of snow across New York and New England on Sunday.
Snowfall: A tale of two winters
While the significant snow drought continues along the I-95 corridor from southern New England to the south with only a few tenths of an inch this winter, the northern portions of New York and New England have been picking up snow this season.
But, even in Burlington, Vermont, and Lebanon, New Hampshire, snowfall has been shy of the historical average before this week's storm. As of Tuesday, Feb. 21, Burlington had measured 39.5 inches of snow compared to a historical average of 61.1 inches, or 65% of the average. Lebanon has picked up 36.8 inches compared to a historical average through Feb. 21 of 44.9 inches.
Farther south, Boston has picked up 7.9 inches compared to a historical average of 35.3 inches. This week's storm will bring a couple of inches or less to the airport, where official records are kept, so there will likely be little improvement in the snowfall department. However, areas in northern New England should end up close to their historical average by the conclusion of the storm later Friday or early Saturday.
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