PHILADELPHIA – Right on the heels of the weekend nor’easter, another powerful storm is expected to lash the Northeast early this week, packing threats of flooding and damaging winds that could knock out power for millions of Americans from New England through the mid-Atlantic states.
The storm will first blast parts of the central U.S. with blizzard conditions and bring severe storms and flash flooding to portions of the South before impacting the eastern states from Tuesday into Wednesday. While it will provide soaking rain for most of the Northeast, accumulating snow is expected over interior portions of the region before an eventual changeover to rain.
“It’s going to have impacts all the way from the central Plains right up through New England as we go through the beginning of the week,” FOX Weather Winter Storm Specialist Tom Niziol said.
Rain will overspread the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday and Tuesday night and quickly become heavy at times, prompting NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center to issue a Level 3 out of 4 risk for flooding in parts of the region (shaded in yellow on the map below).
The Level 3 risk stretches from eastern Pennsylvania through central and northern New Jersey and into parts of the lower and mid-Hudson Valley of New York. This includes millions of people in the city of Philadelphia and the western suburbs of New York City.
A Level 2 out of 4 risk for flooding (shaded in green on the map below) covers a much larger area of the eastern U.S. from northeastern Georgia all the way to Massachusetts, which means much of the Eastern Seaboard should prepare for potential travel impacts on the roads and at airports.
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Moisture rushing in from the Atlantic Ocean will fuel the heavy rain threat in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday and Tuesday night. In most areas, the heaviest rain will fall overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday morning before tapering to showers from west to east on Wednesday.
Widespread rainfall totals between 2 and 3 inches are expected across the region before the rain pushes off the East Coast. This includes Philadelphia and New York City.
Locally higher amounts upwards of 4-5 inches are possible in parts of northern New Jersey and the lower Hudson Valley of New York.
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Strong to potentially damaging winds will accompany the heavy rain across the Northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Wind gusts between 50 and 70 mph are expected in much of the region, which would be strong enough to knock out power for millions of Americans.
“I’m very concerned about this,” Niziol said. “This combination of very strong winds and a plume of very heavy moisture coming up along the Eastern Seaboard is going to spell real issues for power outages.”
In the Northeast, High Wind Watches have been issued from Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon for parts of Vermont, western and northern New York and northeastern Ohio. Additional wind alerts will likely be issued as forecast details become clearer.
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Areas along the coast will see the strongest winds that could potentially approach or exceed hurricane force (74 mph or higher).
The National Weather Service office in Boston said it might need to issue Hurricane-Force Wind Watches within the next day or two for areas offshore of the New England coast. March 2018 was the last time the NWS office in Boston issued a Hurricane-Force Wind Watch or Warning.
Power outages caused by the high winds are most likely across New England and upstate New York, but the winds could still cause outages as far south as North Florida and the Gulf Coast.
“Wednesday morning, in particular, along the coastal regions of the mid-Atlantic right up through Downeast Maine, we could see wind gusts in excess of 60 mph,” Niziol said. “So I’m very concerned about this timeframe here and potential big impacts from widespread power outages in that Tuesday-to-Wednesday timeframe.”
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The Interstate 95 corridor from Boston to New York to Philadelphia to Washington is expected to see all rain from the powerful storm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, areas northwest of I-95 over the interior Northeast and northern New England could pick up light snowfall accumulations before an eventual changeover to rain in most areas.
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“Northern New England, on the front end of this next batch of moisture that’s going to come in with the big storm, likely going to get some snow to start off, but then it’s going to change to an all-rain event,” Niziol said.
Snow totals are predicted to be much lower than those produced by the nor’easter over the weekend when several states picked up a foot or more of snowfall.