With the odds of a heavy snowfall increasing for portions of the Mid Atlantic, the National Weather Service has started to issue Winter Storm Watches for many. Winter Storm Watches due to the threat of heavy snow have been issued for central and southern New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, all of Delaware, central and eastern Maryland, and much of Virginia and West Virginia.
The National Weather Service is urging people in the impacted zones to monitor the latest forecasts for updates on this winter storm situation. In Winter Storm Watch bulletins, the National Weather Service wrote, “Persons should delay all travel if possible. If travel is absolutely necessary, drive with extreme caution and be prepared for sudden changes in visibility. Leave plenty of room between you and the motorist ahead of you, and allow extra time to reach your destination. Avoid sudden braking or acceleration, and be especially cautious on hills or when making turns. Make sure your car is winterized and in good working order.”
The Winter Storm Watch is up for Tuesday into Wednesday morning.
As more weather data comes in as the storm approaches, the National Weather Service will decided to upgrade the Watch to a Winter Weather Advisory or Winter Storm Warning –or completely drop the watch if they feel the storm won’t materialize.
Tuesday’s storm is one of many jetting across the country, bringing rounds of precipitation just a few days after the last. Several shortwaves will eject from the base of a trough moving into the Plains from the West Coast and Rocky Mountains, where surface low pressure will organize and develop before tracking along the Gulf Coast states and lifting towards the Mid- Atlantic.
The first system passes through the Mid-Atlantic, south of the Delmarva Peninsula late Tuesday through Tuesday night and into early Wednesday morning. It appears snow will spread north during the daytime on Tuesday, with the most significant snowfall expected over the DelMarVa Peninsula which much less amounts to the north in places like New York and points north and east from there. It appears that most of the snow accumulation should
occur within about an 18 hour period beginning sometime Tuesday afternoon/evening and wrapping up during the morning on Wednesday morning.
The next area of low pressure will be immediately following in its wake on Wednesday into Thursday. Unlike the Tuesday storm, though, the Wednesday storm may ride up the East Coast, bringing milder air further north. This would mean snow that starts in the Mid Atlantic could mix with or change to sleet and freezing rain, much like it did with the last system to move through. The storm evolving for Tuesday will help determine the path that the Wednesday-Thursday storm will take.
