Another round of accumulating snow is headed to the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday and it should get underway early in the day in the DC-to-Philly-to-NYC corridor. This is a dynamic storm system that will have strong upper-level support and complicating factors will include small-scale heavier snow bands that are likely to develop and an inverted (aka “norlun”) trough that will extend northwestward back to the Mid-Atlantic region from the low pressure center out over the western Atlantic. On the heels of the snow, another Arctic air mass will plunge into the eastern US for the weekend and lower teens or even upper single digit overnight lows will be possible in many suburban locations. Looking ahead, the Arctic chill will dissipate early next week and we’ll turn warmer-than-normal for the middle and latter parts with rain likely back into the forecast.
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An intensifying storm system over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean will be quite impactful during the next couple of days all the way from the Carolinas to Long Island. Heavy rain, powerful winds, beach erosion and coastal flooding are all on the table from this storm as it pushes in a general north-to-northwest direction during the next couple of days and even isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out. This system will take on tropical characteristics as it heads towards an early Saturday landfall in eastern North Carolina - potentially intensifying into a category 1 hurricane. Later this weekend, as the storm reaches the Chesapeake Bay region, it will slow down and begin a turn from the general northward direction to northeast. It’ll likely then cross the Delaware Bay and heads toward southern New Jersey in a weakened state and its slow pace will result in rainfall across the Mid-Atlantic region all the way into later Sunday.
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Hurricane Lee has weakened in recent hours and is now classified as a category 1 “minimal” hurricane as it heads on a northerly track. It is likely to be downgraded to tropical storm status (or “post-tropical”) by the weekend as it moves over colder waters of the NW Atlantic and reaches higher latitudes near coastal Maine/Atlantic Canada. However, Hurricane Lee remains a large storm and its pressure gradient field will remain intense likely resulting in an impact that will be felt across eastern New England and Atlantic Canada with powerful winds and heavy rainfall. Hurricane-force winds are on the table along coastal Maine and Atlantic Canada with tropical storm force winds likely along coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The expected track of Hurricane Lee will place the storm right near or over the Bay of Fundy by later Saturday – a bay known for its extremely high tides and tremendous tidal variations.
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Hurricane Lee remains as a “major” category 3 system and has begun its turn to the north as it becomes increasingly influenced by an upper-level trough over the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley. This turn to the north will come with gradually increasing forward speed and will bring Hurricane Lee to the west of Bermuda on Thursday where there will be tropical storm conditions. As an upper-level ridge intensifies over the NW Atlantic late in the week, Hurricane Lee may actually take a turn slightly to the left which will bring it close to southeastern New England. Hurricane Lee is then likely to become “post-tropical” as it potentially reaches coastal Maine/New Brunswick later in the weekend. Despite movement over colder waters before its landfall and a likely slight weakening in central pressure, the pressure gradient will remain intense between this powerful storm system and intensifying high pressure to the north. As a result, a significant impact is possible this weekend from eastern New England to Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) with torrential rains and hurricane-force winds on the table.
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A tropical wave that pushed off of Africa’s west coast several days ago has officially become tropical depression #13 in the Atlantic Ocean. This system is likely to reach named tropical storm status within 24 hours or so (will be named Lee) and very well could intensify to “major” hurricane status by the upcoming weekend. The overall environment will become increasingly conducive for intensification of the soon-to-be named tropical system in coming days as it continues on a long track across the Atlantic Ocean. Wind shear will relax as an upper-level ridge builds nearby and it’ll move over very warm waters to the east of the Lesser Antilles. Looking ahead, it appears this system may push to the northeast of the Lesser Antilles - avoiding the Caribbean Sea - and then head on a course towards the US east coast as a “major” hurricane. Whether or not this developing tropical storm ever reaches the US east coast is simply too early to call.
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We have entered the second half of August and this is typically when tropical activity ramps up in the Atlantic Basin. Indeed, there are a couple of impressive waves to watch in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean and there may be a threat to deal with in the eastern US/Gulf of Mexico by the last week of August; however, of more immediate concern is the current activity in the eastern Pacific Ocean. There is a growing chance that significant moisture from a tropical system makes its way into the Southwest US by later this weekend and early next week - and this includes a very real threat for excessive rainfall across southern California. In addition, winds may become quite high depending on the ultimate storm track that this developing tropical system undertakes.
Elsewhere, a building ridge of high pressure in the upper part of the atmosphere will result in an intensifying heat wave by this weekend across the central states and it is likely to expand to the Great Lakes and Midwest. While the heat may ultimately expand all the way into the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US, this would be just a one or two day affair and the overall weather pattern for the northeastern states remains quite favorable for very comfortable air masses to reach this area from central Canada.
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We have reached the mid-point of September and this is climatologically-speaking right around the peak time of the Atlantic Basin tropical season. True to form, there is a now a tropical storm named “Fiona” over the central Atlantic and it is likely to impact the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola later this weekend. Beyond that, it is somewhat unclear as to where Fiona will travel with one scenario featuring a continued movement to the west and towards the Gulf of Mexico and a second possibility with a “curvature to the north” over the Bahamas and then the western Atlantic off the eastern seaboard.
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The tropical season in the Atlantic Basin officially got underway on June 1st and there is a growing threat for Florida from a system now located over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. An area of showers and thunderstorms has better organized over the last 24 hours or so over the northwest Caribbean as atmospheric conditions are becoming more and more favorable for intensification. This system is likely to become the first named storm of the 2022 season (would be “Alex”) and is increasingly likely to bring heavy rainfall to western Cuba, central and southern Florida including the Keys, and to the Bahama Island chain.
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There was a severe weather outbreak yesterday across the Deep South and Tennessee Valley and many of the same catalysts will move in the eastern states by later today. At the surface, strong low pressure will move from the Great Lakes into western Quebec and it’ll help to lift a warm front across our area paving the way for a surge in temperatures into the 70’s in many spots. This surge in temperatures will be aided by intervals of sunshine that should develop later today just ahead of a strong cold frontal system. This front will move from west-to-east and it’ll approach the I-95 corridor region by the end of the day.
In the upper atmosphere, a complex weather pattern will feature multiple jet streaks and numerous shortwaves - all leading to increasing upward motion later today/tonight centered right over the Mid-Atlantic region. Showers will be of the isolated-to-scattered variety for the bulk of the day; however, more numerous showers will overspread the region by the early evening hours. In addition, the threat for severe thunderstorm activity will increase as we go through the evening hours with damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes on the table.
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A severe weather outbreak on Wednesday and Wednesday night is coming to the same part of the nation that was hit hard last week including the Deep South, Tennessee and Ohio Valleys. One of the highest weather risks in this region will be for damaging wind gusts aided by strong jet streaks in multiple levels of the atmosphere. In addition, tornadoes may become rather numerous with many ingredients coming together in the atmosphere for rotation to form in many locations. The severe weather threat will shift to the eastern states on Thursday - albeit not quite as high - as a strong cold front pushes towards the coast and damaging wind gusts will again be on the table. Looking ahead, cold air outbreaks will likely continue for the central and eastern US into at least the middle of April and this will likely result in additional severe weather outbreaks.
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