A foot or more of snow could cover the Mid Atlantic and Northeast starting Wednesday, which will make travel difficult and lead to power outages and bring NY his worst December storm in 10 years.
New York could receive 30 to 46 centimeters (12 to 18 inches) of snow starting Wednesday afternoon, although a slight change in the storm’s path could cut that total by nearly half, the US reported. National Metereological Service. The heaviest snow will fall in eastern Pennsylvania and the west of New Jersey, where up to two feet can accumulate.
“There will be a large swath from central Pennsylvania to southern New England that you could see more than a foot in,” said Tyler Roys, a meteorologist for AccuWeather. “It’s been a while since we had such a shocking storm.”
The storm threatens with entangling road, rail, and air traffic throughout the eastern United States, just as the trucks hauling the COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer’s from Michigan are deployed across the country and shippers are overwhelmed with vacation packages.
It’s also likely to lead to power outages and leave many homeworkers in the dark, said Zack Taylor, a specialist with the US Weather Forecast Center.
The winter storm warnings and alerts, as well as weather warnings, extend from South Carolina to Massachusetts. In addition to New York, Washington could be up to 4 inches, and Philadelphia and Boston can see 9 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
“The highest amounts will be west of the I-95 corridor,” Taylor said.
Cold air will descend from Canada overnight Tuesday through Wednesday and lower temperatures, said Rob Carolan, a meteorologist with Hometown Forecast Services, which provides forecasts to Bloomberg Radio.
The heavier snow will likely bypass the northern New England ski areas in favor of the southern New York and Pennsylvania slopes, as well as the Berkshires, Carolan said.
‘Exceptional storm’
“This is an exceptional storm,” Carolan said. “Eastern Pennsylvania will do very well.”
In Washington, where the snow should start Wednesday morning, the northern suburbs can receive three times as much snow as the city itself. The actual trajectory of the system will determine if the forecasts are on target or if rain and sleet mix to reduce snowfall totals.
“There is still some uncertainty from DC to Philadelphia, where the transition between rain and snow and the winter mix will be pretty good.” Taylor said.
If the forecast is confirmed, this would be the heaviest December snowfall in New York’s Central Park since 2010, when the city was buried less than 50 centimeters away, according to weather service records. It will also top last winter’s total snowfall, which only amounted to 4.8 inches.
The winter storms caused insured losses worth $ 2.1 billion across the United States last year and about $ 3 billion in 2018, according to Munich Re.
Snowy and icy weather entangles airline, highway and rail traffic, and can lead to power outages and hamper retail sales. In 2019, 13 people died in the United States from winter weather, according to the National Weather Service.
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