Monday, January 31, 2011

Winter, Blech!!

We're finally down to about 18" of snow on the ground. I haven't seen grass since the day after Christmas (5 weeks ago) and probably won't see it again until March. Then I made the mistake of looking at the weather alert on my weather widget. Woohooo, a two day long alert!

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM EST WEDNESDAY.

* AREAS AFFECTED: WEST CENTRAL NEW JERSEY AND MUCH OF SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA WEST AND NORTH OF PHILADELPHIA.

* PRECIPITATION TYPES: SNOW LATER TONIGHT WILL MIX WITH SOME SLEET AND OR FREEZING RAIN ON TUESDAY BY FORENOON. A WINTRY MIX OF SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN IS EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT AND THEN TRANSITION TO ALL FREEZING RAIN WEDNESDAY MORNING AND POSSIBLY PLAIN RAIN DURING THE DAY ON WEDNESDAY...BEFORE ENDING.

* ACCUMULATIONS: CONFIDENCE IS LOW AS TO ACCUMULATION AS THEY ARE PRECIPITATION TYPE DEPENDENT. BEST ESTIMATE IS FOR 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW AND SLEET. OF GREATER IMPORTANCE...ONE THIRD TO TWO THIRDS OF AN INCH OF ICE IS LIKELY TO ACCUMULATE ON TREES AND WIRES AS WELL AS UNTREATED ROADWAYS BY DAYBREAK WEDNESDAY.

* TIMING: SNOW SHOULD OVERSPREAD THE REGION CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. THERE WILL BE A LULL IN THE PRECIPITATION INTENSITY DURING TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING BEFORE HEAVIER PRECIPITATION MOVES BACK IN OVERNIGHT TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY MORNING. PRECIPITATION SHOULD TAPER OFF WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS: TRAVEL WILL BECOME DIFFICULT IN THE REGION FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON DUE TO SNOW AND THEN ICE. ICE WILL ACCUMULATE ON TREE LIMBS AND UTILITY WIRES FROM TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE. THE TUESDAY MORNING COMMUTE WILL BE IMPACTED BY SNOW. THE TUESDAY EVENING COMMUTE SHOULD BE EASIER BECAUSE OF THE EXPECTED LULL IN THE PRECIPITATION INTENSITY. EVEN SO... CAUTION IS EVEN ADVISED FOR THE TUESDAY EVENING COMMUTE AS THERE IS EXPECTED TO BE A SECONDARY INFLUX OF SUB FREEZING AIR ARRIVING ON NORTHERLY WINDS. THE WEDNESDAY MORNING COMMUTE WILL BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT DUE TO THE ICE. THIS EVENT SHOULD BE OVER BY THE TIME OF THE WEDNESDAY EVENING COMMUTE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET... AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

Man, I love winter!

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