Active pattern continues
I see what R2B sees. Storm coming for Saturday. Looks like the only question at this point will be "rain or snow or mix?"
This one does give us some hope in the flood situation, because unseasonably cold air is going to be part of the equation. It will move out of central Canada and across the northern U.S. toward New England.
Here, it will meet Gulf of Mexico moisture streaming northeastward. When the two entities tango in this part of the country, the result is a Nor'easter... a storm that hits the northeast, travels a northeastward track, and hits the coast with strong winds from the northeast.
As with all such storms it will have two sides: Cold on the northern and western side, and warm on the south and eastern side. In this case it is the warm side we need to be afraid of, because the area is primed and ready for a damaging flood.
The cold side would add to what we've been experiencing all winter, but the flood situation wouldn't be an issue this time... buying us more time to get ready.
Given the two sides of the storm, forecasting this one will be a matter of tracking it, which is always a challenge in this part of the country. My quick look I just had with the models shows that most of them have it tracking very close to the coast, but that gives us the cold side, with snow, for the most part... (phew...) A couple of the models are showing it going west of us, which would bring up the warmth and heavy rain.
In either case I would expect a good deal of water content, given that the origin of the moisture is the Gulf of Mexico.
When the storm passes we will get the abnormally cold air on the backside of it. With as much snow as we have on the ground, cold air is now our friend. It slows down the flood situation.
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