Posted on 01/28/2022 9:17:03 AM PST by Capt. Tom
A powerful nor'easter moving toward Boston could bring snowfall totals high enough to break previous January records, with more than 2 feet of accumulation possible.
The largest snowfall in January in Boston took place back in 2015, when we had 24.6 inches of snow; the largest snowfall ever in the city was President's Day weekend 2003, with 27.6 inches of snow. Those records may still be standing Saturday evening, but there's also a chance they are both broken.
Greater Boston will likely see between 18 and 28 inches, and some pockets could even see more than 30 inches where the heavier bands land.
Temperatures this morning are milder than yesterday by nearly 20 degrees, and it's a good chance to get out and prepare for the big storm before it arrives.
Low pressure moves up the coast on Saturday bringing wind, snow and some coastal flooding. (Courtesy TropicalTidbits) Low pressure moves up the coast on Saturday bringing wind, snow and some coastal flooding. (Courtesy TropicalTidbits) The large, intense storm will move up the coastline Saturday, bringing powerful winds at the coast. It looks as though we will see anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of snow fall per hour during its height. If this lasts for three hours, that puts down 6 to 12 inches of snow in a very short amount of time. This intensity means it will be impossible to travel and even plows will have to pull over and wait it out.
This heavy snowfall will occur from mid-morning through late afternoon. This is the time when travel is not recommended. Temperatures are going to be very cold during the height, allowing the snow to pile up with very high snow to water ratios.
Chris Besse, a spokesman for Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, also emphasized road safety.
"Many of our partners at Mass. [Department of Transportation] and the local officials, they'll be really focused on the roads and the heavy snowfall amounts. And really the best thing people can do there is to stay off the roads if they can tomorrow," Besse said. "Low visibility and blowing winds for an extended period of time can make whiteout and really dangerous travel conditions."
Forecasting the exact placement of heavy snow bands is a bit difficult, similar to forecasting a line of thunderstorms in the summer, but the favorite areas are just southwest of Boston and perhaps also a small area northwest.
A blizzard warning from NWS has been expanded west to the I-495/I-95 corridor.
The entire storm will wind down by around midnight Saturday and when you get up Sunday morning, it will already be clearing.
When you're outside cleaning up, you'll need to use a heavy coat and gloves because it is going to be cold.
Cape Cod is an exception, as temperatures will be in the 30s and snow will be heavy and wet. There may even be some rain on the outer part of the Cape, as well as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. It is there that the snowfall amounts could end up a lot lower if the rain lasts through the middle of the day.
Cold air will be moving south toward Cape Cod during the storm Saturday. Notice temperatures in the teens in Boston and points north. (Courtesy WeatherBELL) Coastal flooding will occur, but because of the fast-moving nature of the low pressure area, the height of the storm occurring at low tide and the fact that winds will be a little more northerly all prevent a major flooding event.
Coastal flooding is forecast to minor in Boston Harbor on Saturday. (Courtesy NOAA)
Power outages are possible, especially over Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts, where the winds will be strongest. Issues with power are less likely inland because the winds won't be as strong and the light nature of the snow will allow it to blow off the trees and wires.
When you get up Sunday morning, the snow will be over and it will be bright and sunny. The map below shows the percentage of cloud cover, which is forecast to be near-zero.
It continues to be chillier than average into Monday, before we get a moderating trend in the middle of the week. That may not last, however, with more cold air for the second week of February.
It’d the media that does the whining. The people,just deal,with it and say “hey, it’s winter” . My folks always said “Weather will be weather whether or not”
"This is a big storm. The last time this happened? Four years ago!! So, this is unprecedented!!!!"
He's just spewing as much hype as he can. It doesn't really have to make sense.
Better watch the winter olympics now since it may be the last one with enough snow to hold them.
It appears the global warming scam is melting down.
“What is wrong over at WBUR? They called it a “nor’easter” and didn’t use “Bomb,” “Cyclone,” or “Bombogenesis” once! Not only that, they used “storm” SEVEN times!
This is simply not a credible report with shoddy reporting like that.”
Here is a second opinion from this morning. - Tom
BLIZZARD WARNING
ISSUED: 9:40 AM JAN. 28, 2022 – NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
...BLIZZARD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 5 AM
EST SUNDAY...
* WHAT...Blizzard conditions expected. Total snow accumulations of
18 to 24 inches. Winds gusting as high as 70 mph.
* WHERE...Portions of eastern, northeastern and southeastern
Massachusetts.
* WHEN...From midnight tonight to 5 AM EST Sunday.
* IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult to impossible. Very
strong winds could cause extensive tree damage.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Considerable blowing and drifting snow
along with near white out conditions at times. Snowfall rates of
2 to 4 inches per hour is possible at times.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Travel should be restricted to emergencies only. If you must
travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded,
stay with your vehicle.
&&
Here in the South we are freaking out over a couple inches of snow.
But two weeks ago it was several inches of ice.
So it’s a good thing there won’t be an NFL game in the Boston area on Sunday.
The next year I was living in the South. We had 2 inches of snow and the university was closed for two days.
Snow means money in Colorado…..not so in MA.
.
I experienced the 1978 blizzard first hand. Don’t recall the exact amount of snowfall but the wind was horrible. There were county roads that were drifted shut for miles with drifts 6-8 feet high. Some of them weren’t plowed out for 2 weeks. There were many places where you could literally walk up a snow drift to the top of your house. And it was really cold as well. Temps below zero and wind chills something like 50 below. I was a firefighter back then and we had a horrible time responding to incidents. We had a county snowplow assigned to the station to go ahead of us.
“Anyone know how this compares with the ‘78 blizzard ?”
We won’t know till it’s over.
Some things to consider though, we have had warnings now for several days. In 78 they had no idea of the magnitude of what was coming and iirc they forecasted less than a foot of snow and then kept adjusting the “forecast” after the snow had fallen.
In 78 there were several other storms prior to it, one on January 21st left about 20” of snow. Right now the ground is mostly bare around Boston.
This will hit on a Saturday, the Blizzard of 78 hit during a work week and thousands were trapped in cars overnight on major highways.
The Blizzard of 1978 stretched from NJ up to Nova Scotia and out to Ohio. Over 1,000 homes were destroyed along the coast, it hit at high tide and then lasted over 33 hours.
Most didn’t have snow blowers, now most do.
Most didn’t have generators, many more do now.
Trees are trimmed on a more regular basis.
Yes..you are exactly right. That is how I remember it too. The entire seaside road of Town Way in Scituate was wiped out...every house was washed out to the sea. Of course, new ones were built, and I teach a student Bass Lessons in one of them.
If this weekend is as bad as ‘78, I may not have a house to go to on Monday.
My Ford Bronco was buried to the roof, and we didn’t see a plow for at least two weeks.
The silence was amazing. No traffic sounds, no snowblowers, no plows, no city noise...nothing.
GloBullWarming I’m sure:-)
You have seen many of these Boston Snowstorms.
One of he main problems in Boston is the many cars parked on the streets, making snow plowing just about impossibe.
Today I had a woman here in Scituate, tell me she called her daughter in South Boston to come down here, as she had propane and a generator and all kinds of food to ride out the anticipated power failures.
Her daughter said she would, except she would lose her parking space in Boston during the storm. So a relative has volunteered to pick her up and bring her down here. - Tom
Oh wait...
Thankfully this storm is at the end of January, not the first of February.
Then they would have to compare it to the February Storm of the Century from '78, and everyone would realize that it is just winter doing its thing.
not even close...Not as much snow and plenty of warning.
Back in 1978, they were not prepared for the timing or the
snowfall amounts.
Back in the early 70s, I lived in Niagara Falls and worked in Buffalo, for 2yrs. We routinely got 158” of snow per year. So much that they had to scoop into dumptrucks, drive loads to the Falls, and dump it into the Niagara River. No room to store it in town. I moved to Miami after 2yrs.
I don't know how these snowflakes might display on other systems, but mine show up as 6 chickens:
❄️ ❄️
Donna Read was gorgeous in Wonderful Life.
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