We have three watches lined up for the beginning of the week to include a high wind and winter watch from Monday at 7 p.m. through 1 a.m. Wednesday; then of course we have the gratuitous coastal flood watch which is up at 1 a.m. on Tuesday and expires at 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.
As we know, watches imply possibility whereas warnings indicate an imminent or probable condition.
Wind – Sustained Northeast winds in the 35-45 mph range are on tap with gusts speculated to top out at 70 mph.
Winter – This watch is issued based on assumed snow accumulations greater than 6” in 12 hours or more than 8” in a 24 hour span. The current projections for our specific area range anywhere from 7”-14,” hardly as precise as the NFL air pressure standards but most certainly attributed to a variety of small bands, the ocean effect and the crawling speed of the system itself.
Flood – Often the neglected step child of all watches and warnings, the flood watch is always tethered to a wind watch or warning when lined up against high tides.
In general, the temperatures within the watch window look to run between the upper 20’s and low 30’s with much stronger snowfall totals further inland. On the back end of the watch window, all indications show a probable stretch of temperatures sustained in the mid to upper 20 degree mark. That said, pre storm follow ups will begin as early as this afternoon where heat will be bumped up simply as a precaution ahead of what appears to be a fair amount of power outages given the wet snow and high wind in the current forecast. For all their shortcomings, the utilities have been spot on in recent years and further bolstered this year with a modest 30% rate increase so I don’t anticipate any long drawn out ordeals on the outage front.
While always striving to strike a balance between timely information and a barrage of email traffic, I will plan on circling back mid-morning tomorrow with an updated overview.