Saturday, February 28, 2009
Duration storm poses potential trouble
Mark
Hi everyone, here’s what’s On My Radar today…I’m trying REALLY hard to bite my tongue and NOT say “March looks like it’s coming in like a lion” you know, the whole cliche thing gets so tired but it really looks like that will be the case. We’re looking at a potentially significant winter storm…a duration event…Sunday and Monday. The set up looks like this: Strong, cold Canadian high pressure builds over Quebec over the next 24 hours. A vigorous “shortwave” of low pressure is digging south toward the Gulf Coast. Two areas of low pressure are forming…the “lead” wave (first storm) will shoot out to the northeast tonight and bring some relatively “light” precipitation to the area Sunday. Looks like a snow/sleet mix for the area Sunday with some small accumulation. The precipitation will shut off in the afternoon and we should “dry” out for a few hours.
The main low pressure will then swing northward early Monday…and again that strong, cold Canadian High is sitting in a prime spot off to our northwest, feeding colder, drier air into southern New England. As always, the track of this system is CRITICAL…if the storm becomes too powerful too quickly then it means a more westward track, resulting in less snow, more mix for the area. If the intensity is tempered a bit while it passes to our southeast then less “ocean influence” is likely and we stay colder, resulting in more snow. The potential is there for a good deal of snow for our area, depending on the factors listed above. Looks like NW RI up through Worcester County is the target zone but I will certainly NOT rule out big totals around Providence either!
The wind potential is high too…northeast gales over 30-40mph along the coast especially…a pretty strong storm! Lots to iron out in this one but one thing for certain, that taste of Spring we got Friday with a high of 60° was a tease…it’s still Winter and odds are it will look a lot like it over the next couple of days…stay tuned! Thanks for reading 
