New Snowstorm Before the New Year in NYC, I-95, I-80

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

December 28,2012; 8:43PM,EST

A new storm is in the works for portions of New England, the mid-Atlantic and the Ohio Valley hit by the storm just after Christmas.

The new storm forecast during the last weekend of 2012 will bring more snow to areas that received snow from the post-Christmas storm and will bring snow to some areas that got rain or mostly rain.
Enough snow will fall to make roads slippery and cause travel delays.
There is also the potential for the storm to strengthen to a nor'easter portions of New England and a blizzard over the Maritimes.

For severe-weather-weary folks in the South, the storm will not bring a repeat of the Christmas tornado outbreak.

A light to moderate snowfall is forecast by AccuWeather.com meteorologists from portions of the Ohio Valley late Friday into early Saturday and then the central Appalachians and the I-95 mid-Atlantic Saturday into Saturday evening.
In addition to part of I-95, stretches of I-66, I-70, I-78, I-80, I-81, I-84 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike can become slippery and snow covered during the storm. As road surface temperatures cool during the late afternoon and evening, wet areas can become icy unless treated.

The cities of Louisville, Ky., Cincinnati, Huntington, W.Va., Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City are projected to receive a general 1 to 3 inches of snow. Locally higher amounts are possible. Rain and sleet can mix in around Baltimore and Washington, but some sort of frozen precipitation is likely to remain on the ground in the wake of the storm.

New York City will be blanketed by a light accumulation of snow Saturday midday into the evening. Image by twitter user @NYCONLY.

However, while the storm will stay relatively mild-mannered while tracking eastward over the interior United States, it will strengthen upon nearing the Atlantic Ocean and take a northward turn.

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How quickly this strengthening occurs will determine how heavy the snow, wind, seas and tides become over New England and part of Atlantic Canada spanning Saturday afternoon into Sunday.
Winds and seas are not expected to cause significant coastal flooding in the mid-Atlantic with this storm.
There is the potential for the snow to ramp up from portions of New Jersey, Connecticut and around New York City, and snow and wind to pick up quickly across portions of eastern New England.
The key to snowfall on central and eastern Long Island and Cape Cod will be whether or not mixing with sleet and rain occurs. If it is all snow in these areas, a half a foot of snow or more could fall.

Odds favor all or mostly snow over much of Rhode Island, areas just south of Boston in Massachusetts and part of Downeast Maine, where up to a half a foot of snow is forecast.
The greatest amounts of snow from the storm appear to be setting up over Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada.
According to Canada Weather Expert Brett Anderson, "An all-out blizzard appears likely over portions of the Maritime Provinces on Sunday."
If the storm develops to its full potential some of these eastern areas could be walloped by a foot (30 centimeters) or more of wind-driven snow and gales that make for not only an angry sea, but the potential for power outages and coastal flooding.

Since the storm will be relatively weak traversing much of the U.S. it is unlikely to throw much snow over the Great Lakes, northern and western upstate New York and northwestern New England.
Even though it will be a colder storm for part of the I-95 corridor in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England, rain is still forecast for much of North Carolina, southeastern Virginia and the lower part of the Delmarva Peninsula.

Regardless of what the storm brings during the last weekend of 2012, generally dry and seasonable conditions are in store for New Year's Eve at Times Square and in the Northeast. A few flurries may be scattered about the region.