Here are the possibilities as we see them at this time. Clearly a storm will bein located in the central Gulf of Mexico Thursday with rain falling fromsoutheastern Texas to the Florida Panhandle. The storm will bring a substantialamount of rain to the Southeast on Thursday night and Friday, but how far northwill it come?There are two trains of thought about this. Currently, there are two distinctdisturbances in the upper atmosphere. One is in the northern branch of the jetstream and will be located over the North Central states Thursday. At the sametime, the other will be in the western Gulf of Mexico. If these two systemsremain apart, the winter storm will come northward to a point Friday night andSaturday then turn out to sea as shown above. This would place the band ofheaviest snow from western North Carolina to near Washington, D.C., andBaltimore. To the north, there would be nothing more than some light snow fromthe Ohio Valley into Pennsylvania, and New England wouldn't get much ifanything.If, on the other hand, the two branches of the jet stream merge into one, theheavy snow will come right up and the entire I-95 corridor would get asubstantial amount.
The bottom line is that there will be a storm in the East Friday and Saturday,and wintry conditions will spread as far north as the mid-Atlantic. Whether ornot the storm will reach New England later Saturday and Sunday remainsuncertain at this time.
Story By AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
