A major coastal storm is expected to bring blizzard conditions, heavy snow, potentially damaging winds and coastal flooding Sunday and Monday from the mid-Atlantic to New England.
Blizzard warnings have been issued for all five boroughs of New York City for the first time since 2017.
This storm has been named Winter Storm Hernando by The Weather Channel.
As is often the case, parts of this forecast are somewhat clearer, while others are quite uncertain.
We'll lay all that out below.
(MORE:What Is A Nor'easter?)
What We Know
- Timing: late Saturday into Monday, with the peak snowfall occurring on Sunday and Monday.
- We expect low pressure to form Sunday off the East Coast, somewhere offshore between the Delmarva Peninsula and the Carolinas.
- That low pressure should quickly gain strength, and could do so quickly enough to be called a "bomb cyclone" by early Monday, a term for low pressure that intensifies rapidly.
(MORE:What Is A Bomb Cyclone?)
- There is a trend toward a storm track that takes it closer to the U.S. East Coast with an increasing threat of heavier snow, gustier winds and more coastal flooding.
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Winter Storm Alerts
Blizzard warnings have been issued from Delaware to Connecticut, including all of New York City and Long Island.
Winter storm watches and warnings have been issued along portions of the Eastern seaboard and also for the higher terrain of the northern Appalachians.
Driving conditions on Sunday and/or Monday could be poor, and gusty conditions and hefty snow could lead to some power outages.
The Forecast
The maps below show our current best forecast of snow and rain from this system from Sunday through Monday.
Wind gusts over 40 mph are also increasingly likely from coastal Virginia to eastern Massachusetts. These strong onshore winds could cause coastal flooding on Sunday night and Monday morning at times of high tide.
Snowfall rates could eclipse one inch per hour at times, especially closer to the coast. In some locations, combined with gusty winds, this could lead to scattered power outages. Reduced visibility will make travel in the latter half of the weekend into Monday dangerous.
This storm will have impacts on Monday morning's commute from Philadelphia to Boston, and possibly the evening commute in parts of New England. If you can stay off the roads, please do so.
This forecast may still change slightly. Check back with us at weather.com for updates to this forecast.
How Much Snow?
The heaviest snow is expected along the coast from New Jersey to Massachusetts, where totals could surpass a foot, and in the northern Appalachians, where totals could reach two feet.
(MORE:Why Northeast Winter Storms Can Be Difficult To Forecast)
Note that as this forecast continues to get refined, these totals could still shift.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him onBluesky,X (formerly Twitter)andFacebook.
