A nor’easter is bringing the first accumulating snow of the season for parts of the interior Northeast and Great Lakes snowbelts. It will also usher in some first frosts and freezes for parts of the East and Southeast.
Happening now
Rain is falling across much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast while snow is falling in the higher elevations of the Adirondacks.
The storm delivered severe weather to parts of the Northeast on Thursday afternoon. There were several reports of damaging winds, large hail, and even a tornado near Wilmington, Delaware. Two other possible tornadoes were reported in central New Jersey and near Queens, New York.
Forecast timing
Here’s when we expect this storm system to peak and exit:
- Friday: Rain, some wind lingers in southern New England, the NYC metro and New Jersey. More precipitation changes to wet snow in the interior Northeast, especially over hills and mountains. Lake-effect rain and snow showers will continue in the western Great Lakes. Some rain or wet snow showers are possible from the Ohio Valley, with the greatest chance of snow again in the Appalachian Mountains.
- Saturday: Lingering lake-effect rain and snow showers, with some lingering snow showers in the Appalachians, parts of northern New England. Otherwise, lingering north to northwest winds in the Northeast.
(MAPS: 7-day US forecast rain and snow)
First snow-cast
The best chance of accumulating wet snow will be in hills and mountain locations of the interior Northeast and some Great Lake snowbelt locations, including:
Get More of Our News on Google
Set The Weather Company as a ‘Preferred Source’ to get quicker access to the news you value.
- The Green and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire
- The Berkshires of western Massachusetts
- The Adirondacks and Catskills of upstate New York
- The Appalachians from West Virginia to western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee
- Parts of western upper Michigan, especially away from the immediate lakeshore
We also can’t rule out at least a few flakes of wet snow, at times, in other Great Lake snowbelts as far south as northern Indiana, northeast Ohio and southwest New York, and in parts of the Ohio Valley in brief showers.
In many of these areas, this would be the first snow of the season.
If traveling in these areas through Saturday, be alert for any slushy accumulations on roads, especially at night. Winds will also be quite gusty, up to 30 mph possible. Slow down and leave extra distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you.
(MORE: Lake-effect snow and El Niño | When the first snow usually falls)
First frosts, freezes
Chillier air will be pulled southward not just into the Midwest and Northeast, but also deep into the Southeast behind this storm system.
By this weekend, the first freeze of the season could happen as far south as much of the Carolinas, northern and central Georgia and northern and central Alabama. Frost and freeze alerts are posted in parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Georgia through Saturday morning as lows dip into the upper 20s and lower 30s.
If you have any sensitive potted plants outside in those areas of the Southeast, you may want to bring them inside before this weekend.
Daytime highs will be stuck in the 40s over much of the Midwest and Northeast Friday through the weekend, while most of the Carolinas and Tennessee Valley won’t see highs climb out of the 50s.
This stubborn chilly area is expected to hang around the East through early next week.
(MAPS: 10-day US forecast highs and lows)
What is a nor’easter?
A nor’easter is just an area of low pressure off the East Coast that produces winds blowing in from the northeast — that’s it.
Nor’easters can happen much of the year and don’t necessarily bring heavy snow. They are more frequent in the winter months, and when we have cold enough air, that’s when more widespread snow falls.
(MORE: What is a nor’easter?)
In this case, this nor’easter is not expected to be a high-impact storm.
That’s because the area of low pressure isn’t forecast to be that strong, and the difference in pressure between it and high pressure over Canada is not large.
For those reasons, the rainfall near the coast and along parts of the Interstate 95 corridor is not expected to produce widespread flash flooding. And any coastal flooding from onshore winds along the Northeast coast is expected primarily to be at minor levels at high tide.
Rob Shackelford is a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.
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 on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Leave a Reply