Make no mistake... this storm is a bad one! It will wallop the coastlinefrom Delaware to Cape Cod Saturday with strong gales and pounding waves. Alongthe New Jersey coast, the wind may gust over 65 miles per hour! Strong easterlywinds will shove huge amounts of sea water up against the coastline, resultingin flooding and severe beach erosion.Through the interior, the main story will be rain, and there will be plenty. Innorthern Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, central and southern New Jersey andsouthern Pennsylvania, rainfall this weekend will reach 3 to 4 inches. That'scertainly enough to cause flooding even without snowmelt from the mountains,which will be adding to the groundwater as well.
In many ways, this storm looks very much like the system that brought acrippling snowfall to the mid-Atlantic region in early February. This storm isnot cold enough to do that; however, rain could change to snow at the highelevations from northern Pennsylvania to the Berkshires of New England Saturdaynight and Sunday.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
