Another nor'easter set to cripple travel, trigger thundersnow
UPDATE: March 7, 2018, 9:22 p.m. EST The storm has ended in the immediate New York City area, leaving behind a wide range of snow totals, from about 2 feet to the west of the city, to anywhere between 4 and 10 inches in the city itself. Many communities in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut are without power due to the heavy wet snow snapping trees and bringing down power lines. The storm continues to intensify as it moves northeast into southern New England. Heavy snow, including thundersnow, is falling in Connecticut and moving into the rest of New England. More power outages, thundersnow, and snarled travel is all likely overnight and into Thursday.
UPDATE: March 7, 2018, 12:49 p.m. EST Heavy snow is falling from Philadelphia to New York City, and is starting to move into southern New England as well. Thundersnow has already occurred in New York City, with more likely to come in many areas as the storm rapidly intensifies. The National Weather Service has increased the snowfall forecast for New York City to about 1 foot, and amounts have been raised for the Boston area too, as the storm track becomes more clear.
A major developing storm is taking shape along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and it's proving to be quite the illusionist. Residents of New York City woke up to a mixture of light rain and snow, and questioned whether the storm forecast was a "bust."
But computer model guidance has been consistent in showing extremely heavy snowfall moving into the Philadelphia metro area, northern New Jersey, New York City, and then up into Connecticut and Massachusetts beginning Wednesday afternoon. This will occur as the storm "bombs out," or undergoes the process of rapid intensification known as bombogenesis.
SEE ALSO:What is bombogenesis?In other words, the storm's effects as of Wednesday morning are not WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), to use an old school internet term. Instead, it's trying to lure folks into a false sense of complacency, draw them into work or school, and then make the evening commute impossible.
Tweet may have been deleted
Model projections, for example, show an unusually strong signal for thundersnow across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast associated with this storm. Thundersnow is just what it sounds like, a thunderstorm occurring while it is snowing, rather than raining. The exact characteristics of thundersnow events are different from summertime thunderstorms, particularly in the location of unstable air within the atmosphere.
Thundersnow tends to occur when layers of unstable air form in the mid-levels of the atmosphere, several thousand feet up, whereas summertime storms involve surface-based instability. This is why you can see the dark clouds rolling in during summer storms, whereas thundersnow seems to come out of nowhere -- it's taking place higher in the atmosphere.
In meteorologist-speak, this storm has strong dynamics associated with it. In normal person vernacular, that means this storm means business, and will bring surprisingly heavy rates of snowfall once it gets going in earnest by early to mid-afternoon in the big cities.
The snowfall forecast has been a major challenge, particularly in New York and Boston, where relatively mild air from the ocean could keep snow from sticking or turn precipitation over to rain for a time. However, dynamical cooling from strong lifting of the air aloft and heavy precipitation dragging down cooler air from above should overcome milder temperatures in most areas. That happened in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night, when rain suddenly switched over to big, fat flakes of snow and stinging sleet accompanied by thunder.
Consider, though, the snowfall forecast for New York, where media outlets and the Weather Service are expecting a big difference in accumulations between JFK International Airport in Queens, which is right on the ocean, and Central Park. The Weather Channel, for example, has been predicting 12 to 18 inches will fall in Central Park, while just about 6 inches will fall at JFK, which is located only about 15 miles.
Tweet may have been deleted
The fact that forecasters can now zero in on transition zones with such precision is an example of how far meteorology, aided by powerful computing technology, has come in recent years. However, poor communication of large forecast ranges has led to some media headlines that ruffled feathers in the meteorology community, since large ranges in forecast accumulations is not the same as saying "we just don't know."
The storm presents a major communications challenge for weather forecasters to make clear that the evening commute in major cities could be downright impossible due to heavy snowfall rates. During past storms, New York City has ground to a sudden halt once snowfall rates reached 2 to 3 inches per hour for even just a couple of hours, putting lives in danger and complicating commutes of all kinds.
Similar events in Washington, D.C. have proven that storms involving a benign morning commute followed by a harrowing evening commute can result in stuck cars and commuters overnight.
New York City's public schools remained open on Wednesday, for example, suggesting that the authorities may have underestimated the storm's potential to cause havoc.
Tweet may have been deleted
This storm is striking New England right on the heels of an even stronger and slower-moving storm that battered the region beginning on March 1.
Coastal flooding from that storm caused serious damage in eastern Massachusetts, including breaching seawalls, weakening coastal homes, and flooding numerous homes and businesses. While this storm won't be as bad, coastal flood warnings are in effect for eastern Massachusetts, as strong onshore winds will ensure that a remarkably prolonged period of flooding continues.
In addition, thousands of people still don't have their power back after the previous storm, either, and this event will bring even more wet snow that could take out trees and power lines. This could extend power outages -- particularly in inland areas that pick up the most snow -- from days to more than a week.
This is a developing storm and story. Check back here throughout the day for updates.
Featured Video For You
Locals call it 'The Tomb': What's in the Marshall Islands concrete dome?
(责任编辑:产品中心)
-
Abrar Ahmed returns as Pakistan names squad for second Test against Bangladesh
ListentoarticlePakistan has announced its 12-member squad for the second Test against Bangladesh, se ...[详细] -
本报讯近日,记者从四川农业农村厅官网获悉,拟确定汉源新黎村为四川名村,公示时间为9月2日—9月8日。这不仅是对该村坚持推进产业兴旺、生态宜居、乡风文明、治理有效、改革创新和生活富裕的褒奖,更是对汉源县 ...[详细]
-
本报讯为更进一步普及初级卫生健康和应急避险救护知识,提高企业员工在紧急情况下的逃生避险和自救互救能力,日前,天全县红十字会联合该县应急管理部门,着重对该县规上企业相关人员开展应急救护员培训。培训会上, ...[详细]
-
7月5日至7日,2019青岛·中国财富论坛将在国际会展中心4号馆举办,数十家银行、证券期货、保险类金融机构参展,展示数百种投资、理财、证券、期货、基金、财险、寿险等方面的产品和服务。展会 ...[详细]
-
NASA's new plan keeps Starliner astronauts in space until 2025
Have you ever had an eight-day road trip turn into an eight-month excursion? Nope? Well, consider yo ...[详细] -
中国山东网—感知山东7月29日讯近日,青岛啤酒发布新品——王子海藻苏打水,并一举签约“钢琴王子”郎朗作为品牌形象代言人。气质相投才能携手共谋 ...[详细]
-
7月15日,映客宣布以8500万美元正式收购新生代高质量社交APP“积目”,万世资本在本次交易中担任目标公司和卖方独家财务顾问。映客方面称,已经与积目公司及其全部股东达成最终收 ...[详细]
-
人物名片刘惠君,女,汉族,出生于1965年5月27日,是一名普通的退休妇女。在石棉县水厂的住宿楼里,一提到刘惠君,居民们都举手称赞。老年痴呆的婆婆、高龄的母亲和智力障碍的儿子是她肩上的“重担”,她没有 ...[详细]
-
优化广东优质农产品产销资源对接!“农友圈”又有新动作_南方+_南方plus2023年10月,广东省农业农村厅依托“粤农技”微信小程序建成并运营了农业技术需求精准对接服务公益性平台——“农友圈”。截至7 ...[详细]
-
前些年,在天全县城厢镇向阳村三组的田野里,伫立着两组四根石斗桅杆。桅杆用青石材质雕刻,前一组在洪川庙遗址前,经初步测量,两杆之间相距16米,遥遥相对,形状标准完全相同。桅杆总高8.4米,呈八角形状,底 ...[详细]