This is a major blizzard. Winter storm Harper (named) is currently providing over 25 million USA citizens with either a winter storm warning, watch or advisory with brutal snow, ice and blizzard conditions expected in the next 0 to 48 hours.
1.) PREPARE. It’s now looking very likely that interior portions of the North East will see blockbuster snowfall totals and combined with strong winds this major blizzard here will be immobilizing and life threatening.
2.) TAKE ACTION. Take action now to secure the safety of yourself and citizens around you, keep a close eye on NOAA warnings at weather.gov that remain functional during the govt. shutdown.
3.) Be Safe. Be safe during this weekend. This storm is a meteorological beauty (it is scientifically awseome), but life threatening. It has already brought several feet of snowfall to the mountains of California and is on a track eastwards and will score 75% of the Northern States with at least 1 inch of snowfall.
Winter Storm Harper risk map:
The worst affected areas will be the upper North East. Parts of eastern New York State, into central Vermont, Central New Hampshire, Maine and into Newfoundland could see 2 to 4 feet of snowfall.
Next up is a larger area scoping the north of Massachusetts, a larger portion of New York State inclusing the west, north and center of the state. The north of Pennsylvania, potentially places like the Chicago Metro locally due to enhancement of precipitation from lake Michigan, and eastern parts of South Dakota and potentially the south western part of Minnesota. Here lesser totals of at least 8 inches pretty widely are likely with more intense totals of 12 to 14 inches in some higher ground areas. Of course these are just rough figures, and the lines between heavy totals and light totals on the northern flank of the storm and between heavy snow, freezing rain and heavy rain on the south of the storm are very fine.
In the red areas travel really will be impossible, the dark orange near impossible, the lighter orange “moderately challenging” and the yellow “a little challenging”. Of course with the risk of freezing rain for cities perhaps along the western flank of the I-95 corridor that may not see the highest totals (according to the current track of the storm), may be more significantly affected by this storm as an ice storm.
Therefore I’d stay tuned to local forecasts to monitor any potential changes in this storm. A fairly insignificant change to the track of the storm by just 50-100 miles can change the conditions felt at the surface drastically for millions of people. Winds will be strong to so snow drifts will form in rural areas cutting off rural communities for potentially days and leading to travel misery. Freezing rain through Saturday & Sunday is likely for portions of the North East and aiding this storm in becoming a dangerous feature.
Stay tuned to winter storm warnings etc at weather.gov.