Major Winter Storm in Progress out East: Big Snow South of the Big Apple

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Which version of snowfall totals do you prefer–the NAM on the right, or the GFS, shown below? (Click images to enlarge.)

If you live out east, the question is purely academic. I doubt that you much care which forecast model is the more accurate, because either way, you’re going to be sitting under a ton of snow by tomorrow. That much is no secret. While the forecast models shown here are for 00Z Saturday night, the show has already started.

Farther down the page, you can see a level 2 radar grab from Sterling, VA, taken shortly after 10 p.m. It’s much prettier to look at than the picture

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that is unfolding over the nation’s capitol as I write in the form of heavy snow, freezing fog, mist, freezing rain, blustery winds, blizzard conditions–just about every kind of winter weather you can throw at one area in the space of a few miles as temperatures drift from below to above freezing.

The current Baltimore forecast for tonight and tomorrow reads as follows:

Tonight: Snow and areas of blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 29. Breezy, with a east wind between 16 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 15 to 21 inches possible.

Saturday: Snow and areas of blowing snow. High near 29. Blustery, with a north wind between 18 and 22 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

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Ugh! For once I’ll take a Michigan winter forecast over what’s being served up elsewhere. Right now my friend Kathy out there in Greenbelt, MD, is getting her clock cleaned. It’s a good night for her and her boyfriend to eschew the Washington nightlife and hunker down inside. For that matter, I doubt there’s much happening in the way of a Washington nightlife on a night like tonight.

Meanwhile, down in the warm sector, much of eastern North Carolina is under a tornado watch. The radar shows a pretty grungy-looking, non-severe, low-topped squall line that doesn’t show much likelihood of putting out anything tornadic, but it nevertheless adds to the East Coast’s overall weather ambience.

Have fun out there, kiddies, those of you who live out east. As for me, I’m going to pour me a mugful of Bell’s Amber Ale and, for once, enjoy watching the snow not fall outside my window. Gloating over such things is permissible for lifelong natives of the Great Lakes.