Monday, November 5, 2012

Strong Nor'easter To Deliver Snow, Rain To Sandy-Stricken Regions

A strong coastal storm system will be delivering everything from snow to rain to wind in the Northeast, in the same regions already battered by Superstorm Sandy.

The above model image is of precipitation type roughly 3 days out, superimposed on forecasted MSLP values. The MSLP values indicate that the GEM model is predicting this storm system to get as low as 967mb. While that is certainly strong, it pales in comparison to the 940mb observation in Superstorm Sandy. Regardless, this storm will have many impacts, including:

•Cold temperatures
•Accumulating Snowfall
•Heavy precipitation
•Rising waters
•Additional beach erosion
•Heavy winds
•Additional loss of power and other services

This is the 102 hour snowfall forecast from the latest GFS (American) model:

The GFS believes many areas will see amounts below 6 inches, but the spots that do breach that benchmark could see amounts flirting with the 10 inch mark. The worst part of this storm system is that it will strike the areas worst-hit by Sandy. While many areas that still don't have power are in a bad situation, others could be in a much worse situation- those who have an unstable power source. If people badly hit by Sandy have a temporary power source for the time being (i.e. hastily placed power lines) in place of a more permanent power supply system, they may let their guard down, thinking they don't have any power issues to worry about. However, should the power go out, you've got quite a stormy night coming in.

The reason I haven't covered this too much is because storms can leave you uninterested in similar events for a while. For example, after tracking the 2011 Chicago blizzard, I had no desire to forecast snow for a good 5 days after the event, and I think the same is happening here in the wake of Sandy. I apologize, and I want to cover it more, but I have a feeling there won't be too many updates as this system comes along.

Andrew

2 comments:

Logan said...

I actually am not really interested in this storm as well... I'm just still wondering what storms TWC will call their 'winter storm names'. Like if they called this one one of them. Sorry if they already have, I don't watch it anymore :)

mike paulocsak said...

Agreed Logan! When storms start to effect the Ohio Valley later this winter,I'll take interest in them.