Meteorologists have forecast that a fast-moving coastal storm is set to hit Northeastern cities with a blast of sleet, snow, and rain on Saturday along Interstate 95 axis, and this might turn out to be the first in this season as winter approaches.
New England is expected to witness large amounts of snowfalls, even though weather analysts caution that drivers that snowing could make driving pretty dangerous around the region due to slippery roads.
“It’s kind of the first one, so it’s a good thing it’s happening this weekend,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson in Taunton, Massachusetts, said Friday. “If this happened during a weekday, it could be really slow and messy.”
Forecasters believe that in Philadelphia, the storm might reduce to 1 to 4 inches of ice and snow before shifting to rain as the storm moves northeast along the Eastern Seaboard. Although the storm will move out to sea early Sunday after venting itself as snow and ice on Saturday via Philadelphia, it is believed to bring 3 to 4 snow inches to New York City and 4-6 to Boston and a higher level in central Massachusetts.
However, the authorities have stockpiled plenty of salt and snow-treatment chemicals as well as 632 plow trucks to deal with the storm if it really comes to heavy snow, said Kevin Nursick, the spokesman for the Department of Transportation. Nursick also added that certain highways and bridges are already being treated in readiness for the storms.
While regions east of Interstate 95 will be receiving much rain, the storm is anticipated to start as snow. The extent to which the rains move west will determine how high the snows accumulate; and weather analysts state that Philadelphia could get receive a quarter-inch ice Saturday morning before the rains come.
According to meteorologist Peter Wichrowski, Upton, New York, snow could hit New York on Saturday morning along the coastal areas with a mixture of rain and sleet. He added that snowfalls could reach 1 to 2 inches across the eastern Long Island. However, Washington and Baltimore might experience rain as a result of freezing temperatures.