Nasty Night

If you are a sound sleeper you might not make it through the night without waking up once or twice.  Lots of things to keep track of.  Let's go straight to the maps.

Tonight:

As expected the storm that dumped a good amount of snow on the Midwest is setting its target on the east coast with heavy rain and strong winds.  Behind it we get the rush of cold air from Canada and with that comes those prevalent northwest winds across the lake to give some heavy lake effect totals.

Line of winds moving through late tonight before the rain.  Yellow is around 35 mph while orange is closer to 45.

Heavy rains and possible thunder come through very early in the morning

There had been constant talk since the storm took shape earlier this week about some wrap around snow from cold air coming in from behind.  I don't see that happening at all.  Stray snow showers could be around anywhere between Friday night and Saturday morning while a blustery wind continues from the west.

Snow Zones:

All of western PA will see snow pile up from moisture behind the storm and lake effect.  The snow zones should also start to make out well after seeing very little so far this season in certain places.  While this large storm was affecting multiple big cities across the country nobody seemed to notice or really care about a heck of a little ocean storm in Maine.  Caribou, one of our watch spots picked up a solid 11.8 inches with other totals above 20.  Not bad, but not a big story.

Looking Ahead:

This is why you don't jump too far ahead.  In my last post I had said no white Christmas.  That's how it looked then, however chances are better now.  My next sentence was, it's safe to say we don't see any measurable snow at all in December.  I deleted it soon after I wrote it because there are too many factors.

All of the sudden a little low pressure system goes scooting through the Tennessee Valley and northward just enough to at least keep things interesting on Christmas.

Christmas morning light snow?  Possibility is there.  32 degree line clearly marked to the south through central NJ.

After Christmas:

Remember on Monday I said about a massive storm that was predicted to cut up towards Chicago?  Want to take a guess at what happened to that today?  It now follows a southern track and then makes the turn to go up the coast.  After that I'm not even going to guess.  Either way keep an eye out for somewhere between the 28th and 30th.