Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 - Morning Weather Discussion

We have just undergone a major pattern change to one that will end up leading to much colder air and many chances for snow.  The only question remaining at this point is how much snow?  We will have one more day of warm weather today with highs in the upper 40’s, then temperatures will drop to the low 40’s for Thursday and Friday.  On Friday night a weak storm system will approach that will bring a chance for some light snow late on Friday night into Saturday morning, and possibly into early Saturday afternoon.  The light snow could accumulate to a dusting to an inch.  Then other weak storm system will approach for Sunday and Monday, bringing a chance for a snow shower each day.  On Tuesday of next week two weak storm systems and the Polar Vortex may come together to create a Nor'easter near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  This storm may then rapidly intensify as it moves northeast on Tuesday night and Wednesday to a point just to the east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts by Wednesday afternoon, and then into the Gulf of Maine by Wednesday night.  This storm may become quite strong and would have the potential to reach blizzard classification, especially for eastern Long Island and eastern New England.  The current path projected by the European model would keep the worst effects to the east of our area but would still have the potential to bring us some significant snow for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.  We will obviously need to keep a close eye on this potential as a track any further west would bring us much worse conditions, while a track further to the east could keep us completely dry and sunny.  One thing looks certain though.  Either way, it will likely get extremely cold after this storm passes as one of the main reasons this storm could become so strong is that it will be interacting with the Polar Vortex and pulling it down for a re-visit to our area.  This could cause temperatures toward the end of next week to approach zero once again.  It also looks as if this time the visitation could last much longer, possibly through the end of the month, with more snow chances next Sunday and then the following Tuesday as well.  The cold and snow chances every couple of days show no let up through at least the end of the month.