Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Major snowstorm to barrel through eastern US midweek
AccuWeather
Follow
2/17/2025
AccuWeather's Jon Porter breaks down the major winter storm that's expected to dump heavy snow from the Midwest to the eastern U.S. during the middle of this week.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
On Friday, we issued this map, you and I drew this, and we, you know, a lot of sources don't
00:06
like going this far out, but we wanted to give everybody some idea of the possibilities.
00:14
One scenario would take this system right up the coast, the other scenario was offshore,
00:19
and it looks as though the offshore is going to be the correct solution.
00:24
It does. There's more evidence that suggests this is going to pass,
00:26
come right up the North Carolina coast and then move more east than it will north. So in other
00:31
words, unlikely to turn right up the coast. That means unlikely to have a blockbuster storm
00:36
in New York City, Boston, down to Philadelphia. A heavier snow will be located in the south,
00:42
but a small move back to the north and west of that storm can make all the difference, Bernie.
00:47
It's all being guided by this upper level area of low pressure across the Great Lakes,
00:52
and that interaction is really going to drive the specific storm track and, of course,
00:56
all the impacts and where the snow occurs. The concern is, John, preceding this storm,
01:01
we have a lot of cold, dry air before this storm arrives.
01:06
Look at that. Temperature's 20 degree high in Pittsburgh, 13 in Chicago, 3 in Omaha.
01:13
Cold, dry air plentiful on the north side of it. So the question is just how much moisture
01:18
is going to surge northward and interact with that cold air to produce that snow.
01:23
You had mentioned the upper air pattern. Let's show it to you. This is Wednesday
01:28
evening here. There's the upper low across the upper Midwest. There's the storm off the
01:33
Carolina coast. And you can see, John, because of the tilt of that trough, it's what we call
01:38
a positive trough, the steering flow is out of the west-southwest, not from the south to north.
01:43
Yeah, that's one of the factors that we're watching. But again, it all is going to come
01:46
down to the specific location and orientation of this upper level area of low pressure over
01:51
the Great Lakes. If that was a little bit further to the west, that would draw the storm
01:56
further to the west and have a tendency to bring it closer to the coast. So miles are going to
02:01
matter in this one in terms of the track of the storm. Now, here's what we're thinking,
02:05
John. There's the snapshot. The debatable area is from Long Island down toward Washington, D.C.
02:13
This is the area that there can still be some movement here in those snow totals
02:17
because a little bit of an adjustment to the north will increase the amounts of snow
02:21
in this area. But what we are confident in here is a significant snowstorm across parts of
02:27
Virginia to right up in the D.C. area and then some snow and ice also across the Carolinas with
02:32
such cold air in place. Big impacts with this system. The question is just how far does that
02:37
come up the coast? What I find interesting on future radar here, again, this is one solution.
02:42
Watch how the snow avoids Washington, D.C. through the afternoon and then watch the push
02:47
northward, John, Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday night.
02:50
Yeah, look at that expansion on the northwest side of the storm. That's what
02:53
will bring the snow into D.C. And that's why we still think there can be accumulations
02:58
of a couple of inches from New York to Boston, especially the further southeast you go. So
03:03
that's going to favor Long Island, southeast Connecticut, Rhode Island and Cape Cod in the
03:07
islands, for example. John, we just had a map discussion. We decided we're going to let this
03:12
snow map as is for now. Yeah, that's right. We're going to continue to hold our forecast
03:20
accumulations here one to three inches across much of southeastern New England, three to six
03:24
on the Cape, two to four in New York City and down toward Philadelphia. And then look at the
03:29
heavier snow totals from Baltimore to Washington, especially down toward Richmond. Yeah, watch
03:35
yourself from Raleigh toward Charlotte, some ice going over there, some snow. All right. AccuWeather
03:40
Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. John, thanks for joining us here this morning.
Recommended
3:34
|
Up next
Another winter storm setup in store for Northeast and Midwest
AccuWeather
2/6/2025
4:27
February frenzy to close with major snowstorm
AccuWeather
2/17/2025
4:20
Cold front closes in on the eastern US
AccuWeather
11/26/2024
5:00
Major winter storm brewing for next week
AccuWeather
2/15/2025
3:15
Bernie discusses the next snowstorm in Midwest, Northeast
AccuWeather
2/19/2021
1:46
Mid-Atlantic bracing for looming snowfall
AccuWeather
2/11/2025
3:06
Looking ahead: Snow blanketing the Upper Midwest and Northeast
AccuWeather
11/29/2024
3:57
Mid-Atlantic and Central US slammed by snow and ice
AccuWeather
1/6/2025
2:37
Wintry weather expected across Midwest, Northeast this week
AccuWeather
2/17/2023
1:52
Snow and ice to cause dangerous travel conditions for southern US
AccuWeather
1/8/2025
3:58
Western US to get soaked by storms next week
AccuWeather
3/7/2025
1:00
Coldest air of the winter lurks for eastern US next week
AccuWeather
1/16/2025
2:15
Looking ahead: Midweek storm hits eastern US with rain and snow
AccuWeather
12/6/2024
2:39
Plains and Midwest hammered by major winter storm
AccuWeather
1/5/2025
2:34
Looking ahead: Cold air with snow for Northeast
AccuWeather
2/21/2025
1:02
Winter storm continues over the Northeast
AccuWeather
4/20/2022
4:22
Snowstorm to bring up to a foot of snow to parts of the Northeast
AccuWeather
2/12/2024
3:44
Major winter storm to disrupt travel and power across South
AccuWeather
1/20/2025
1:09
Just after spring warmth, storm dumps snow throughout the Northeast
AccuWeather
3/10/2022
3:18
Winter storm rolling from Rockies to the Northeast
AccuWeather
2/12/2025
3:08
December to start with blast of cold air and lake-effect snow
AccuWeather
11/26/2024
2:10
Snow squalls to accompany return of wintry chill in Midwest, Northeast
AccuWeather
12/18/2023
4:27
Blizzard to bring heavy snow, biting wind to the Upper Midwest
AccuWeather
2/22/2023
2:48
Forecasters warn of snow potential in Midwest, Northeast
AccuWeather
12/6/2022
3:10
Blizzard, ice storm and winter storm warnings issued from the Rockies to the Upper Midwest
AccuWeather
12/13/2022