11:30 AM | Heavy rain this afternoon and tonight along the I-95 corridor; destructive snow in the mountains from West Virginia/Virginia to Pennsylvania to New York over the next 36 hours

Discussion

A major storm is currently developing off the Southeast US coast and it will intensify rapidly this afternoon and evening as it tracks from the coastal Carolinas to near the South Jersey coast by late tonight. From that location, the storm will then veer to the northwest and head to inland locations near NW PA or SW NY by tomorrow night. Heavy rain will fall in the I-95 corridor from DC to Boston this afternoon and tonight with 2-4 inches possible with the highest amounts from Philly north and east. Winds will become increasingly strong with gusts to 40 mph possible along I-95 by tonight and even higher amounts likely at the coastline. The combination of Atlantic moisture combined with a tropical connection will bring us this steady, heavy rainfall this afternoon and tonight. Meanwhile, as the storm intensifies later today and tonight, even colder air will wrap in around it and all of this Atlantic and tropical moisture will run into a wall of cold air in the mountains of West Virginia, western Virginia, western Maryland, western and central Pennsylvania and western and central New York. This powerhouse storm will be quite destructive in many of these higher elevation locations over the next 36 hours as some will receive more than a foot of snow by tomorrow tonight and this heavy, wet snow will undoubtedly cause numerous downed limbs and power outages. Example cities that can get the significant accumulating snow include Pittsburgh, Johnstown, and State College in Pennsylvania; Buffalo and Jamestown in New York; Elkins, West Virginia and Cumberland, Maryland. The steady, heavy rain will end here in the I-95 corridor by early tomorrow; however, the cold air in the upper atmosphere will no doubt help to generate more showers later tomorrow and snow could actually mix in not too far west of the big cities – we’ll monitor that possibility tomorrow. In fact, temperatures along the I-95 corridor will hold at very chilly levels throughout this entire storm. Damp, chilly weather continues on Tuesday and Wednesday.