Winter storm takes aim at Northeast this weekend with snow, rain and blustery winds
A major storm system that will impact the I-95 corridor in the Northeast could produce the heaviest snowfall event in nearly two years for some communities.
NEW YORK – FOX Weather meteorologists are tracking what’s expected to become the first nor’easter of 2024, which could bring the first significant snow in two years for several cities along the East Coast and flooding rain for the South, all translating to messy weekend travel across the eastern U.S.
The storm is forecast to develop Friday along the Gulf Coast. While computer forecast models still vary widely on snow and rain amounts and the actual track and strength of the storm, the FOX Forecast Center is keeping an eye on key takeaways that will spell out dangerous and slow travel conditions:
- An area of low pressure will develop late Friday and move up the East Coast this weekend.
- Rain, snow and ice are expected across multiple states.
- Snowfall amounts have trended down in the past 24 hours in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, but parts of the Interstate 95 corridor could still pick up at least an inch of snow.
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Winter storm development
A storm system that will push out of the Southwest into the Gulf Coast is expected to develop into a nor’easter and produce heavy rainfall, wind and snow in at least 20 states.
Where enough cold air exists, precipitation could fall in the frozen form this weekend, with the heaviest totals expected to be between 8″ and a foot.
Communities from the southern Appalachians to the upstate of Maine could be in store for wintry precipitation.
“The atmosphere is more like a pitching machine now, sending one storm after another off the Pacific,” said FOX Weather winter storm specialist Tom Niziol.
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Winter storm timeline
Friday
An area of low pressure is expected to develop between Houston and New Orleans on Friday, producing heavy rain along the Gulf Coast. Flash flooding is possible from southeastern and eastern Texas eastward to the Florida Panhandle.
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Saturday
On Saturday, the low-pressure system is forecast to plow east as it organizes and strengthens. Check with your airline if you are flying into or out of Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport, as the heavy rain and gusty winds could create delays, especially in the morning.
To the north, snow will quickly break out across the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians. Several inches of snow appear likely at this time. Warm air moving over cold air trapped near the surface may allow for freezing rain to fall across the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.
Sunday
The storm is predicted to push off the East Coast near the Carolinas and continue to head northward on Sunday.
Heavy snow and gusty winds will linger Sunday morning in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, New England, New Jersey and the higher elevations of the central Appalachians.
The storm will gradually wind down Sunday afternoon.
“We were telling you at the end of 2023 that as we entered January, we were expecting the storm track to be more favorable for the East Coast, but also the cold air to be present,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “Well, there you go. Verified forecast. We’re in for a nor’easter this weekend, and this is going to all happen very quickly.”
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Where the snow and ice will be the heaviest
The FOX Forecast Center expects the snowfall to be heaviest in the higher elevations and communities west of Interstate 95 from the southern Appalachians through the U.S.-Canada border.
By the time the storm system moves away from the U.S. on Sunday, many locations will have received upwards of 4″ of snow, with some locales picking up between 4 and 12″ of new snow.
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Wintry precipitation is expected to fall in all major cities in the Northeast from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
Due to the Atlantic Ocean’s modification of the airmass, the heaviest snowfall totals are expected to fall outside city limits. Still, forecast models show New York City picking up 1-3″ while Boston could see 5-8″ of snowfall.
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The FOX Forecast Center said there is also a growing threat of freezing rain in the central and southern Appalachians. Parts of southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, upstate South Carolina and northeastern Georgia could see significant icing, putting a slippery glaze on pavement and weighing down tree limbs and power lines.
When was the last notable snowstorm for I-95 corridor?
Snow lovers should feel hopeful about the weekend, even several days out, because the current storm track is promising. We have to look back to late January 2022 to find the last notable snowstorm on the I-95 corridor. On Jan. 28-29, 2022, a nor’easter buried parts of the region under snow and even touched off blizzard conditions.
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The 2024 storm will develop off the Gulf Coast and track offshore around the Carolinas. The 2022 nor’easter developed in the Atlantic off the Carolinas and traveled northward several hundred miles off the East Coast. (FOX Weather)
Cold air in place in 2022 turned all precipitation into snow. Delaware and eastern New Jersey not only saw over a foot of snow, but winds gusting between 50 and 60 mph blew around the snow, turning the storm into a blizzard, according to the National Weather Service. Blizzard conditions pushed into New England on Jan. 29.
Boston measured 23.8 inches of snow. New York City saw 8.5 inches, while Baltimore got 1.5 inches.
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Storm could end record snowless streaks for several cities along Eastern Seaboard
This nearly two-year streak without an inch of snow for Philadelphia smashed the previous record streak of 661 days without an inch of snow that ended in 1973. Long ago, New York City clobbered its old record of 383 days without an inch of snow that ended in 1998.
New York City only saw 2.3 inches of snow over the winter of 2022 through 2023. That is more than a 2-foot deficit compared to the average winter season snowfall and a record for the lowest annual snowfall total.
Philadelphia and Washington both saw less than a half-inch, leaving those cities with a 22.8-inch and 13.3-inch deficit, respectively. Even cities that saw snow got only a fraction of what they typically see. Boston saw 12.4 inches of snow over the 2022-23 winter, more than 3 feet less than average.
2024-01-03 23:26:00
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