Old Man Winter is expected to arrive this week as forecasters expected a storm to dump about a foot of snow in Northern New Jersey on Wednesday.
This is how AccuWeather forecasters are calling it for the week:
MONDAY: A relatively weak storm will move through. Rain arrives during the morning, mixing with some light wet snow north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Accumulations are minor: grassy coating to 1". 1-2" in the Poconos. Not a big deal at face value but, this storm opens the door for a rush of cold air and sets the stage for a much bigger event Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY: Low pressure moving out of the deep South will transfer its energy off the Southeast coast and intensify as it moves north along Monday’s stalled front. Although the track is subject to change, the latest consensus is moving very close to the Delaware/New Jersey coast by Wednesday night. In the meantime, strong high pressure over eastern Canada will help lock on the cold air, slow the storm’s forward motion and intensify the pressure gradient between the two systems cranking up the winds, especially along the coast. Coastal flooding is possible.
TIMING: Precipitation likely starts moving into our area from southwest to northeast late Wednesday morning, intensifying during the afternoon and evening hours, and ending early Thursday morning. It’ll be cold enough to start at all snow, although a change to rain seems likely along the coast. Some mixing in with rain could happen near western NJ before it changes back to snow as the storm departs. This is highly dependent on the ultimate track.
SNOWFALL TOTALS: This is always a tricky one, especially when the storm's main energy is still over the Pacific Ocean. But, it does appear likely that a large portion of our viewing area (northwestern counties) has a good chance of significant snowfall (6-12”.) At the same time, areas along the coast will likely see mainly rain. In Northern New Jersey, a foot of snow as possible. It’s all about location! We will be releasing a detailed expected snowfall map Monday.
TRICKY TRAVEL: This will likely be a high impact event for the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast. The combination of snow, heavy at times, rain and wind will likely make travel very difficult.
IMAGE/INFORMATION CREDIT: AccuWeather