Threat Becoming Real For East Coast Snowstorm: What You Need To Know

Much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic is preparing for a massive snowstorm expected to hit the areas through the weekend.

It would mark the first significant snowfall for most of the region, where warmer weather has been the norm so far for most of this winter.

Patch spoke Wednesday with the Weather Channel’s Jen Carfagno to get the latest on the storm. Here’s what you need to know.

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Where will it hit?

The Washington D.C. and Mid-Atlantic are expected to feel the brunt of the weekend’s storm, with heavy snow possible in Northern Virginia and Western Maryland, Carfagno said.

Washington and Baltimore were under a blizzard watch as of Wednesday morning.

New York City, Boston and Philadelphia will feel the effects of what will be a wide-reaching storm. But forecasts are less confident in their predictions outside of the Mid-Atlantic.

“Everyone wants to know where we’re sending Jim Cantore,” Carfagno said about the channel’s popular weatherman who reports on scene from the worst of the storms. “Well, we’re sending him to D.C.”

The Mid Atlantic will get hammered with more than two feet of snow in some areas, Carfagno said. More than an inch of snow an hour will fall, and roads will be “difficult to impossible to drive on,” she said.

Snow totals for other areas are less certain.

New York City could see eight to 12 inches of snow, Carfagno said. Boston could avoid most of the damage, with just three inches predicted right now.

What exactly is causing this?

Cold air has been locked in Canada by the jet stream, part of why this winter has mostly been a warm one, Carfagno said. But the jet stream is expected to shift over the Northeast, sending cold air over the region.

And “upper level energy” coming over the Rocky Mountains from the West Coast will strengthen a low pressure system moving East.

When those two collide and combine with warm water in the Atlantic Ocean, it’s a recipe for a big winter storm.

What are the other dangers?

Besides the snow, coastal flooding is expected to impact Long Island and New Jersey and on down the coast.

“There’s going to be a period of onshore winds pushing the water on shore,” she said, and tides will already be high with the full moon.