Odds have increased for a significant nor’easter to develop off of the east coast later this weekend. This will bring heavy snow and strong winds with blizzard conditions possible along the eastern seaboard. This storm will develop off of the North Carolina coast early Sunday and rapidly strengthen into Monday morning. You can see this rapid intensification in the animation below that shows surface pressure from Saturday at 7 pm to Monday at 7 am:
Exactly how far off the coast the low forms will determine where the heaviest snow will fall. Right now, that looks to be from the Jersey shore into southern New England. Over 6″ of snow could fall in this area.
The timing for this system will be Sunday afternoon through Monday evening. It won’t just be snow either. Winds will gust over 40 mph right along the coast from the Outer Banks through the Jersey shore. From Long Island to the coasts of Southern New England, these gusts will like be over 50 mph. Strong winds combined with blowing snow will reduce visibility and could lead to blizzard conditions. In order for a blizzard to verify, wind must gust over 35 mph and visibility must be below 1/4 of a mile for at least 3 hours straight.
Temperature Outlook
Across the South, after record highs on Friday, more record highs are possible Saturday. These records will occur across Florida and the Gulf Coast.
As the nor’easter strengthens, it will drag cold air very far south as you can see in the below animation:
This will bring record cold highs across Florida on Monday:
On Tuesday morning, a couple of record lows are possible and freezing temperatures will reach well into the Florida peninsula:
Agriculture interests should be sure protect any sensitive plants that may have begun to bud in the recent warm weather the Southeast has seen. This cold snap should be short lived with warmer temperatures returning by the end of the month.