The storm will also cause near-hurricane force wind gusts and major coastal flooding.
The storm that slammed California with up to 15 inches of rain and more than 100 inches of snow before a foot of snow on the Midwest is now taking aim on the Northeast. And, as it did in California, the system will stall out, burying cities of the Northeast under the biggest snowfall in years. Winter storm alerts covered about 100 million people as of Sunday afternoon. On Sunday, the main storm over the Midwest was losing steam as it transferred its energy to a developing low along the Virginia coast. This storm will take over, intensify and then sit and spin for days. The result will be 2 feet of snow in spots, coastal gusts up to hurricane force and moderate to potentially major flooding along the coastal areas from New Jersey to Cape Cod. So far the Midwest has picked up around 10 inches of snow near Chicago, with a little more on the way. A few inches have fallen around Washington, D.C., and several more inches are predicted, prompting Mayor Muriel Bowser to declare a snow emergency. Up until this weekend, the capital had received just 0.3 inches of snow this entire winter. This storm alone will drop 20 times that, with around 6 inches forecast to fall. The heaviest snow will begin overnight as the coastal low starts pumping copious Atlantic Ocean moisture into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Although the storm is not expected to have a very low pressure, which is associated with the storm’s intensity, it will more than make up for that with very slow movement and a prolonged easterly fetch of wind.
