Potential nor’easter forecast Northeast Great Lakes rain snow frost late this week, Digi Mart USA News: A potential nor’easter could bring impacts to the Northeast and Great Lakes late this week into the weekend. Cold air arriving beforehand means there is a chance for snow as well as soaking rain, gusty winds and the first frost and freezes for millions.
There is still uncertainty about where this nor’easter will track, as forecast models are expected to come into agreement later this week. Forecasters say what they are most certain about is that it will get cold.
A deep southward plunge in the jet stream, called a trough, is expected to carve across the East late this week.
Daytime highs will plummet 20 degrees from Wednesday to Friday, from Chicago all the way to Atlanta. By the weekend, lows will drop to the 30s as far south as the Florida Panhandle.
The latest models show a low-pressure system moving across the Midwest on Wednesday. It is expected to strengthen as it moves into the Ohio Valley Wednesday night, bringing rainfall from Georgia to Michigan.
By Thursday night, another area of low pressure is expected to form off the Eastern Seaboard, when rain could mix with or change over to wet snow over parts of the interior Northeast.
The track of this low-pressure system appears to be solidifying near or just west of the 40N/70W benchmark used for such storms to determine precipitation types across the Northeast. That would mean rain more than snow along the Interstate-95 corridor, although there will be inland snow.
Some uncertainty remains in the forecast.
Another possibility shown by some model forecasts has the low hugging closer to the coast for a time. That scenario would bring a threat of strong wind gusts and coastal flooding at high tide to parts of the East Coast, from the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina to New England, and could also bring heavier precipitation, both rain near the coast and inland snow.
The best chances of accumulating snow stretch from the mountains of northern New England to upstate New York and the Appalachians. With low temperatures expected to remain above freezing along the I-95 corridor, snow is not expected in the major metropolitan areas.
Some wet snow could fall in lake-effect bands, as cold air moves off the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes. This snow would be the “first of the season” in many of these areas.
The forecast is likely to change over the next day or so as models close in on the scenario.
A nor’easter is defined simply as an area of low pressure off the East Coast that brings winds in from the northeast. Nor’easters can occur at any time of year and do not necessarily bring heavy snow, though they are more frequent in the winter months.
