A winter storm will bring a few inches of snow to portions of the Mid Atlantic and Northeast this weekend; for many, such as those in eastern Maryland and southern New Jersey, this will be the first plowable snowfall of the young 2025-2026 winter season.
The weak wave of low pressure responsible for this winter storm is currently over the western High Plains of Montana. A strong upper-level shortwave trough, vort max and jet streak will head southeast across the Plains and Midwest on Saturday before crossing into the Mid Atlantic on Sunday.
This atmospheric set-up will allow light to moderate precipitation to break out along and mainly to the south and east of the I-95 corridor between Washington, DC and New York City. A much more focused band of snow is expected to develop by early Sunday morning.
As the system starts to pull eastward early Sunday into the ocean, there will likely be a fairly quick end to the snow Sunday morning from northwest to southeast. Some lingering instability may cause spotty snow showers to linger into the afternoon and evening, with any additional accumulation expected to be light.
With the arctic front having moved through, gusty northwest winds will take over, possibly causing some blowing and drifting snow along with falling wind chills, but the worst of that will occur Sunday night.
A dry and much colder air mass will move in from the west later Sunday. On Sunday night the temperatures and the wind will be noticeable, with the northwest wind helping to usher in colder air. Cold air advection will allow stronger winds aloft to mix down along with a tight pressure gradient Sunday night which all leads to gusty winds developing.
Wind gusts Sunday night are forecast to be upwards of 25-35 mph in the northern Mid Atlantic and Northeast. The combination of these winds and temperatures in the teens for many will result in wind chill values in the single digits for a wide area.
The National Weather Service warns that if the wind remains strong enough with even lower temperatures, some areas may reach Cold Weather Advisory criteria Sunday night into early Monday morning.
By that point, the precipitation will be long gone. By Sunday night / Monday morning, there should be several inches of snow on the ground across southern New Jersey including the coast. Most people there will see 3-4″ of snow but some areas, especially over southern-interior New Jersey between I-295 and Route 9 south of Route 38 could see upwards of 6″ of snow. 3-6″ of snow is also possible over eastern Long Island and around Cape Cod. Much less is expected north of this region, with only 1-3″ expected in places like Philadelphia and New York. Places like High Point, New Jersey may escape without any accumulation at all.
