For almost five years, the Northeast hasn’t been hit with any severe snowstorms or freezing cold temperatures, so for cities like Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York, snow on the East Coast is long overdue.
Most of these cities saw low amounts of snow last winter; in NY, they only measured 4.8 inches last season. The least amount of snow ever recorded in New York City came in the 1972-73 season when the city saw only 2.8 inches. For perspective, in a normal year, Central Park brings in around 25 inches of snow; in 1995-96, New York received a whopping 75.6 inches.
On Sunday, the parent storm was still 3,000 miles away from the Northeast but nearing the Pacific Northwest with heavy mountain snow in Washington state and Oregon.
The storm is set to reach the East Coast after it travels along the entire U.S., heading southeastward through the Rockies, dumping heavy snow into the mountains.
On Tuesday, the storm will bring only a light coating of snow to the Southern Plains around Oklahoma. But by Wednesday, the storm will start to crank back up due to the Gulf of Mexico’s moisture.
Snow will begin to fly and increase in strength and coverage early Wednesday morning as it moves over the Appalachians, as the Gulf moisture meets cold air sitting and waiting in Kentucky. Once the storm jumps into the mountains, the system will be infused with moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, and heavy snow will break out on Wednesday afternoon in northern Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania and hit Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City by early to mid-afternoon.
The heaviest snow will fall along the I-95 corridor and just to the northwest. It appears that the precipitation will arrive as a mixed bag of snow, sleet, and rain in the capital of the country. It was expected to be mostly snow and sleet in Philadelphia. This is expected to be mostly a snowstorm from New York City to Boston and points northwest. With 2 inches per hour piling up in areas, the heaviest snowfall rates will start late Wednesday through Thursday morning.
While it’s still too early to pinpoint details, and things are bound to change between now and midweek, there is large confidence that a swath of very heavy snowfall will pile up. Hartford, Providence Bo, and Boston are likely to be in the bullseye.
