Sunday Morning, February 17th, 2013, Weather Discussion

Well, we just missed out on big Nor’easter that moved just to our east.  Last night it was interesting to watch as the band of heavy snow hugged the New Jersey Coast, but remained literally 5 miles off shore, while cutting across Long Island, giving eastern Long Island several inches of snow.  Boston is still reporting heavy snow as I am writing this.  Anyway, looking forward, we will see some rain in the afternoon on Tuesday as a cold front approaches.  Then a weak storm system will approach for Friday, bringing a chance of some light snow.  It had originally looked as if this storm might be more significant, but now it looks as if it will break into two separate pieces, with the second piece possibly approaching late on Saturday.  This second piece would have the potential to be more significant as it will have more moisture to work with, coming from the southern jet stream.  There is still a chance this storm will miss us to the south.  If it does come north to our area, it could fall as rain or snow, or rain and snow depending on the exact track that it takes.  Right now, the European model brings this storm far enough north to affect our area significantly, starting as rain on Saturday afternoon, and changing to significant snow at night, but we will have to wait and see.  After this storm, another storm will approach for next Monday night into Tuesday morning.  This storm could be quite significant but could fall as either rain or snow depending on the track that the storm takes.  Then next Friday there will be a chance of a little light snow as a weak storm approaches our area.  Then next Saturday, clouds may increase as a potentially very significant storm may approach our area.  I have been watching for a couple of days now for the potential of a very significant storm somewhere along the East Coast for period between Sunday March 3^rd and Tuesday March 5^th.  There are indications that the southern and northern jet streams could merge somewhere along the East Coast during that time period, and could produce a very significant storm.  Keep in mind that early March can sometimes produce very significant storms along the East Coast as temperatures start to warm in the south as we head into Spring, but at the same time there is still plenty of cold air to our north.  If that cold air to our north dives south and meets up with the warm air, it can produce very strong storms, and if that combines with the moisture of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, then the storm would have a lot of moisture to work with as well.  In addition, storms in March tend to move much slower than they do during the middle of winter, as the upper level winds tend to start slowing down a bit, so these types of storms can often be slower moving as well.  Right now, this is all a very long way out and may not happen at all, but let us keep an eye on this potential just in case.  Again, this would be for the period between Sunday March 3^rd and Tuesday March 5^th