No doubt everyone has seen the fire sales on powder milk and Saltines given tomorrow’s weather. Currently, we have a High Wind warning in effect from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday with winds ranging from 30 – 40 mph with gusts projected to be upwards of 70 mph. By extension, a Coastal Flood Warning is posted and in effect from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Tuesday dovetailing with the tides. A Winter Storm Watch is also in effect in conjunction with a Storm Warning. By pulling “winter” out of the equation, the Storm Warning, laden with projections in terms of knots, speaks to conditions over the water while a Winter Storm Watch speaks primarily to what is happening on land where most of us are. In either event, more individual watches and warnings can only help ratchet up the hysteria as we wait on a final determination regarding the looming sun burn index.
While wind is always an issue, current tracks show the lion’s share of snow curling onshore south of our coordinates and dumping larger deposits of snow further inland. The popular consensus shows 4” – 8” of snow falling ahead of a change over to rain late Tuesday afternoon the latter of which is supported by forecasted temperatures ranging in the mid to upper 30’s. That said, the ocean effect variable is always a fickle mistress teeing this round up as a genuine wait and see storm; and we will do just that with a follow up mid-day Tuesday.
As a lifelong resident of the outer Cape I was the third generation to pick up the mantel in the family construction business. In my early twenties, I called the Cape my home on weekends as I spent several years working for a variety of off-Cape commercial construction companies. My site supervision resume includes two supermarkets, two HUD projects, a funeral home and a handful of steel industrial buildings as well as various restaurant and office remodels.