Eastern U.S. Locked in Soggy, Snowy Weather Pattern

A waterlogged storm will pack everything from heavy rain to accumulating wet snow from the Gulf Coast to New England through early next week.

Drenching rain and thunderstorms will spread northeast from the Florida to the Tennessee Valley, eastern Great Lakes, and Mid-Atlantic this morning. This rainy, stormy weather will cruise off the Carolinas to Florida's Atlantic beaches between late this morning and early tonight. Rain will be commonplace from the eastern Ohio Valley and along the Interstate 95 corridor between the nation’s capital and Boston, though a several hour dry spell could develop over the Mid-Atlantic during late this morning through mid-afternoon.

A general 1 to 2 inches of rain is forecast today across the Mid-Atlantic to southern New England. Such heavy rain combined with snowmelt will lead to swollen rivers, streams, and creeks, leading to an increased risk for flooding. Urban flooding will be possible in low-lying, poor drainage areas as well.

Flood Watches stretch from southern Ohio, much of West Virginia, Virginia, to the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. Keep in the back of your mind a simple motto – “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.”

Meanwhile, moisture on the northern fringe of the storm will fall in near or largely sub-freezing air, which means a gloppy, wet snow will accumulate along and near the Interstate 90 corridor snaking through New York State and New England on Sunday through the first half of Monday. The heaviest snowfall totals will likely occur in southwestern New York, near New York’s Catskills, the western Berkshires and hills across Worcester, Mass., as well as across higher terrain such as the Monadnocks in southern New Hampshire and southern Green Mountains in Vermont.

Already, Winter Storm Warnings, Winter Weather Advisories, and Winter Storm Watches are in effect across parts of New York and Pennsylvania, southern Vermont and New Hampshire, southern Massachusetts, and western Connecticut. Several inches of snowfall accumulation is likely in this zone. At least a couple inches of snow could lead to slippery travel as far north as Downeast Maine, and as far west and south as northern Ohio and along the central and southern Appalachian Spine through Monday.

In addition to travel headaches, the wet consistency of the snow could lead to potential scattered power outages, particularly at elevations above 1,000 feet where up to 8 to 10 inches could blanket the ground in central New York and in central New England by storm’s end. If you cannot avoid travelling, allow plenty of time and distance between you and the next vehicle to arrive at your destination safely.