For two days we've seen a winter storm hurl itself across the nation, and last night the NY metro area said hello to it. Though NY escaped with only a few inches of rain and minimal ice before heavy rain helped out, starting from West Chester and going north, into central PA, even parts of the region closer to NYC such as Northern NJ was a different story as you can see from the 2-day snowfall map below.
This is only part of the story though as many areas experienced freezing rain for numerous hours with the temperature inversion. Places in SE PA saw up to .3" of ice accumulations ON TOP of the snowfall, while parts of southern central MA and northern CT saw up to an astonishing .4"
And even for those who didn't receive any freezing rain, last night the snow partially melted during the night as temps rose as high as 34°F before refreezing once again as the temperatures suddenly dropped below 32°F. This caused nightmares on the roads as black ice formed in many plowed areas, and even worse in unplowed areas (as I can see out of my window now).
There's still more snow in the forecast for today, but it's all north of Boston with Maine still getting hammered:
There's still more snow in the forecast for today, but it's all north of Boston with Maine still getting hammered:
Also a quick lesson on what an inversion is and why it causes freezing rain: as you can see in the graphic to the left, the temperature gets very warm as you go up, well above the freezing mark. The snowy precipitation melts into rain above us, but when it reaches the surface it freezes once again as ice on the pavement or anything else it touches. |
Now this is different than sleet which is only partial melting of the snow and results in slushier (temps are usually slightly above 32°F). You can see in the graphic below how each of these look.
So with this storm over and done with for the NY metro area, the next low pressure system moving through will be on Tuesday. For NY it'll be rain, but as you go North there's another chance of snow in the morning/night with rain during the afternoon to break it up, but North still will be all snow.
Careful on the roads tonight as temperatures will dip well below freezing again and all the snow that melts today may become black ice. Keep an eye out and be safe.
-Mike Merin
Careful on the roads tonight as temperatures will dip well below freezing again and all the snow that melts today may become black ice. Keep an eye out and be safe.
-Mike Merin