The East Coast of the United States can be very stormy in the winter. Stormsthat form here can become very powerful because of the large temperaturedifferences that often exist. The air over the Gulf Stream is quite mild, whilethe air over the continent can be very cold. This creates a huge weightimbalance in the atmosphere, which is what drives the circulation of theintensifying coastal storm.Often, there will be an energy transfer from a storm moving up west of theAppalachians to a secondary system along the East Coast. This is basically whatwill happen today and Saturday. One storm center will come into Tennessee andKentucky, then there will be a new, more significant development along theCarolina coastline. The coastal storm is the one that is going to do most ofthe dirty work.
In most winter storms, the rate of snowfall varies at least to some degree hourby hour. There can be temporary lulls, and there can be times when it issnowing so hard that you can't see your hand in front of your face. Rate ofsnowfall criteria is shown below.
The storm that will hit the mid-Atlantic later today into Saturday morning willput down 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour at times, but probably not 3 or 4.
Those excessive rates are reserved for the meanest of winter storms. When itis snowing that hard, the house across the street completely disappears fromview.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
