October 24, 2005

First winter storm watch

It's early in the season for heavy snow, but:

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING THROUGH LATE TUESDAY NIGHT... ...A MAJOR SNOWSTORM IS POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...

...HEAVY WET SNOW IS POSSIBLE IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR TREES AND POWER LINES TO COME DOWN DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF THE SNOW. ROADS ALSO COULD BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY.

It's for tonight through 6:00pm tomorrow night. The other interesting aspect is this article in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

A significant weather event will begin to play out tonight over the Southern Tier and last into Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and -- if the conditions are just right -- the possibility of snow.

The players include Hurricane Wilma, a tropical depression named Alpha (because we've run out of regular names and have since moved to the Greek alphabet) and an upper-level low moving across the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes.

If they all decide to get together at just the right moment, they could create a so-called "perfect storm," spreading heavy rain and even heavy snow across southeastern New York, northeastern Pennsylvania and already water-logged New England.

"This is going to be a tricky set- up over the next few days," said Josh Nagelberg, a meteorologist with AccuWeather. "It will get really interesting as this cold air dives south over the Great Lakes. As all this sets up over the coast, it could be cold enough for rain to change over to snow. And there's a potential for some heavy snow, especially in the higher elevations over the Catskills and Adirondack Mountains."

Fortunately, drama seems unlikely:

"A lot of it is due to timing," Nagelberg said. "Will we see 3 to 6 inches of snow? I doubt it. But it is still possible."

Posted by simon at October 24, 2005 12:31 PM in
Note on photos