Severe winter weather watches and warnings are grabbing the attention of millions across the country as all eyes are on a developing storm system that threatens to absolutely slam the northeastern states with extremely heavy snow, fierce hurricane force winds, torrential rains on the coast, along with battering waves and coastal flooding. A Snow Hurricane if you will -- a storm which has been quoted as "a decade of storms rolled into one," and "the perfect storm part two," or "nothing short of a monster!"
Well over a foot of snow is forecast in locations just inland from the coast from New Jersey to Maine northward to the Canadian border and beyond. And if you go even further inland, you could be looking at accumulations approaching 30 or 40 inches in the higher elevations. Snow drifts will be at least three to five feet in areas. The heavy wet snow, combined with winds in excess of 40 mph will cause dangerous blizzard conditions for hours on end. This will likely lead to downed trees, power outages and impassible roads.
Coastal regions from Long Island to northern Maine will receive hurricane-force winds at the storm’s peak, along with several inches of windswept rain. These areas could also expect to see coastal flooding from the onshore flow literally pushing the ocean onto land.
And to top it off... this is a long duration event! Beginning overnight Wednesday and lasting until Saturday for some areas. This is because the developing low pressure will approach the area, stall, begin to move away, then actually hook back... and as it does so it will deliver round after round of severe wintry weather before finally moving back out to sea late Friday.
When all is said and done this storm will be one for the record books. Its unique track, its extreme force and its ability to affect millions of people in its path will all need to be taken into consideration.
