Talk of a major storm that could affect much of the East Coast early next week is growing in the news media and on social media, but weather forecasters remain uncertain about what type of precipitation will fall in the Lehigh Valley.
Could heavy snow whiten the Lehigh Valley Tuesday? Meteorologists remain uncertain about the track of a coastal storm that could affect the Lehigh Valley.
Late Saturday afternoon the National Weather Service issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for east central and northeastern Pennsylvania that urges residents to monitor weather forecasts.
“A coastal storm is expected to move up the East Coast,” the NWS said in its statement. “A wintry mix is possible Monday night and Tuesday with some accumulation of snow and ice. Additional snow is possible Tuesday night and Wednesday.”
A Facebook post by Eastern PA Weather Authority meteorologists Saturday stated that they are “sold on a coastal storm, and perhaps a retrograding nor’easter…but the trends have been to make this a very warm system outside of NE PA in areas of elevation.”
“This may end up being a Poconos and NE PA special for the heavy snow, (with) heavy wind driven rainfall elsewhere,” the post continued.
If necessary EPAWA announced that it will announce a “first call” prediction about the storm Sunday night.
Accuweather is predicting that “storm with snow, ice and rain” will affect the Northeast Tuesday.
In an article posted Saturday afternoon, expert senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski writes that “how quickly a storm strengthens along the coast Tuesday into Tuesday night will determine the intensity and extent of a swath of snow versus rain and no precipitation whatsoever.”
In an extreme scenario called “Bombogenesis,” however, he said the storm could strengthen “a great deal” and “heavy snow could be thrown farther to the west and south, over New York City, much of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”
