Snow Friday? Beware The Westward Shift

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Snow Friday? Beware The Westward Shift

Before we talk about another chance for snow Friday let’s start with this evening and tonight. The fresh 1 to 3 inch snow cover combined with a northerly flow will make for very cold conditions tonight with the lowest temperatures of the season so far. Single digits and teens will be common in many locations with clear skies for a good portion of the night and diminishing winds.

FRIDAY MORNING FORECAST LOWS

The satellite loop shows a very active northern jet stream which is not done with us yet apparently. Another arm in that jet stream is swinging around to the southeast. To the south across the Gulf States we can see a stream of moisture moving east northeastward. Enough of both systems look to come together on Friday just east of the North Carolina coast.

SATELLITE LOOP

We have seen a number of times including last Saturday of systems backing westward at the last minute and weather models seem to have waited for the last minute for this system on Friday. The Nam model has now joined the party here and would suggest snow for Southern & Central New Jersey Friday afternoon extending northeastward to Long Island by Friday evening.

NAM MODEL FRIDAY AFTERNOON & EVENING CLICK TO ANIMATE

Right now the risk seems to be increasing for Coastal & Southern New Jersey as well as Long Island for another round of snow. Liquid precipiation amounts would suggest a tenth to a quarter of an inch which would mean a coating to an inch or two in some places. Right now this looks to be confined to the coast but the models are trending northwestward and we will have to wait and see if trends even further northwest. If it does we will issue a snow forecast for the area later this evening.

Either way Saturday looks okay with sun and clouds with highs in the 30s. On Sunday a weak warm front may set up to our south putting us in clouds and there is a chance for a little wintry mix Sunday night into Monday morning.