Powerful Nor'easter to cripple parts of the East Coast!
A coastal low pressure system will intensify overnight off the Carolina coast and move northeastward along the western periphery of the Gulf Stream toward the Canadian Martimes through Tuesday, with a minimum central pressure forecast to deepen to near 970 mb by Monday night. The GFS and WRF models are forecasting over a foot and a half of storm total snow accumulation across eastern New England into Nova Scotia, with blizzard conditions likely from New Jersey northeastward Sunday into Monday. Blizzard warnings are already in effect for Long Island, NY, with winter storm warnings over surroudning areas. Atlanta, GA experienced a white Christmas today for this first time in decades, as northern and southern stream storm systems merged over the Southeast U.S. before "bombing out" along the
extreme temperature gradient between cold continental air and the warm Gulf Stream. Behind this storm system, cold northeast winds were blowing over the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, with one particularly heavy LES band stretching from northern Lake Michigan southwest to eastern Racine and Kenosha counties, WI this evening, with 2-4 inch per hour snowfall rates reported in these areas. The band will also affect eastern Lake County to the south as the evening progresses, with up to a foot of storm total snow accumulation possible across eastern Racine and Kenosha counties, and 6-8 inches into northern Lake County. Lake effect snow advisories are currently in effect for these areas. Check out the radar image at right of this impressive snow band from around 9:45 CST. Thunder and lightning are even possible at the core of this snow band, especially given the reports of graupel received from Kenosha County. This crazy winter weather pattern is expected to continue through the New Year, with the long-range models even hinting at a widespread severe weather outbreak across the southern U.S. from New Years Eve-Day. Stay tuned for further updates, and have a merry Christmas!
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