THE BLIZZARD OF 2015 IS QUITE LITERALLY EXPLODING OFF THE CAROLINA COAST AND HEADING NORTH TO GIVE WESTERN MASS A NOREASTER TO REMEMBER. MASSACHUSETTS TRAVEL BAN GOES INTO EFFECT AT MIDNIGHT. TRAVEL TO BECOME ESSENTIALLY IMPOSSIBLE WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS, ZERO VISIBILITY AT TIMES, IN VERY HEAVY FALLING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES FOR ALL OF WESTERN MA. BLIZZARD WARNING CONTINUES FOR SOUTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY, EMASS, CT, RI, AND THE CAPE. Good evening everybody, I am blown away watching satellite this evening. Abundant lightning is being produced over the open waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. This storm is developing rapidly now, and hurling abundant moisture northward. This precip is being forced up and over a fresh, dense, and very cold dome of cold Arctic air, with cold high pressure to our north in eastern Canada in the classic Noreaster position. The resulting vertical lift that will occur will cause snowfall rates of up to 2-4 inches per hour at times after midnight, and into tomorrow morning. Its possible some folks will see a foot or more of snow in a 6-hour period. The storm will track to near The Benchmark and slow down, possibly stalling for a time. It will be wild to watch and see what it does, as nobody can predict exactly what will happen when storms stack vertically like this one is going to. This is a very serious snowstorm, and hopefully you have made your preparations, have taken shelter, and are off the roads. Light snow has already started to move into Western Mass at this time, and will become steadier and heavier as the night wears on, and will push north and west, completely covering our region. There will be two main banding features. A snow band just refers to an elongated and fairly localized area of convection within the overall/greater precipitation shield. The first area of enhanced snowfall will be along a coastal front down in the southeast part of Massachusetts. Just to the northwest of this area, likely to set up around the Cape Cod Canal, or Bristol/Plymouth counties, will be a very heavy area of wet snow. Combined with gusts over 60mph, and there will be an area of widespread power outages, and these could last for a long period of time. Hurricane force wind gusts of 70-80mph will buffet Cape Cod, and possibly even Cape Ann north of Boston. The second area of banding will occur somewhere between Western Mass and Central Mass, as heavy precip is flung northwestward towards our area. If these bands reach Western Mass, and you happen to be awake, it will be a sight to behold. It will just DUMP snow. And thundersnow is possible, though more so in our southern zones, like Hampden county and down into CT/RI. Midnight to noon will be full-on wildness. I do not expect to sleep much tonight, and I will be here as long as I have power, and have a pulse. Winds will blow strongest tomorrow morning in Western Mass, sustained out of the northeast (hence the term Noreaster) at 20-30mph, with gusts to 45mph at times. Blizzard conditions possible. Scattered outages possible. Whiteout conditions at times. Zero visibility at times. I believe most of Western Mass will see 18-24 inches of snow, a little less over the Berkshires in places is possible, and easternmost Hampshire and Hampden counties could see upwards of 30 inches of snow. Where those mesoscale bands (i.e. small-scale snow bands) set up, is where the higher totals will pile up. Snow will begin to let up in the afternoon, though we can expect light to moderate bands of snow until about midnight, with additional accumulations. However, as the storm wraps up and occludes (which means its cold front wraps all the way counterclockwise around and merges with its warm front), it will begin to die out, and weaken. The storm moves out during the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning. Then we turn our eyes to another snowstorm potential for Friday, for more accumulating snow possible. Have a great evening, and I will update you later this evening as the storm pushes closer, and I will post some cool image loops and satellite shots to give you a visual idea of what is taking place in the atmosphere tonight. Welcome to the 1600 new folks who have joined the page over the past couple days! I hope my work is helpful and useful to you. Stay safe, stay warm, stay off the roads if at all possible, heed the travel ban, and stay tuned as we head into a snowstorm and blizzard that well all remember when were old and on the rocking chair looking back on our lives. And be grateful for the food, water, shelter, heat and light you do have. What a gift that is during this classic New England snowstorm.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:01:51 +0000
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