Major snowstorm may threaten DC to NYC Friday into Saturday

There is some dispute between the models about how powerful the storm will end up being by the time it develops off the U.S. East Coast, said Rob Carolan, a meteorologist at Hometown Forecast Services Inc.in Nashua, New Hampshire.

The GFS bought itself a little street cred by nailing the minor event this past Sunday, while others completely whiffed, but I’m not extrapolating much confidence in it into this next storm.

If you compare model runs, the 0z GFS was clearly farther north with everything. Looks right now like snow arrives on Friday. Cold air will be in place so initially we expect all snow. Ground zero for that “battle ground” between the snow/mix/rain line is usually near the I-95 corridor and the City of Richmond.

There is no shortage of snowfall forecasts that are being shared on social media and some of them are quite impressive. No doubt your going to see some wild predictions tossed around. We use this as a guide and have presented it as such on the air and through social media. Beginning late Friday and early Saturday, High pressure over Kansas and Oklahoma will combine with the Coastal low to create a flow that will generate topographic snow along the Appalachian chain with light snow continuing throughout Kentucky into portions Tennessee.

There have been some indications in the forecast models of double digit snowfall totals across our region. Mixing will no doubt cut down on totals D.C. and east. We will not have a good handle in where this feature will setup until later this week. Snow shovels, blowers and plows will be needed this weekend. If you have a snow blower make sure it’s ready to go. By Thursday night or Friday, snow or a rain/snow mix may impact parts of the Ohio Valley, Tennessee Valley, Appalachians and potentially the Mid-Atlantic.

It’s fairly common to have uncertainty with a potential winter storm several days in advance, and sometimes the details aren’t yet set in stone until a day or two in advance in very complicated situations.

In terms of impact, this will be a very disruptive storm for southern New England. And:”If the storm develops to its full potential and takes a track just off the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts, then a blizzard can unfold”, AccuWeather reports, panicky emphasis ours. Regardless, if you have travel plans and you are able to reschedule to an earlier date (Thursday) it is recommended that you do so given the potential.