Science & Technology

Winter Storm Could Bring Snow And Sleet To U.S. East Coast

By Scott Neuman

Published January 3, 2018 at 2:42 AM CST

Obdulio Arenas takes a selfie at the partially frozen waterfall at the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, on Tuesday in Paterson, N.J.

If you live anywhere along the U.S. East Coast, brace yourself for what is about to come: a nor'easter that forecasters are calling a "bomb cyclone."

How much the storm affects the coast is contingent on a number of factors, most notably how far out to sea it tracks.

As Jason Samenow of The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reports, "A monster storm will hammer coastal locations from Georgia to Maine with ice and snow. By Thursday, the exploding storm will, in many ways, resemble a winter hurricane, battering easternmost New England with potentially damaging winds in addition to blinding snow."

The Weather Channel is predicting freezing rain, sleet and snow in the Southeast and snow and gusty winds for the Northeast.

"Winter storm watches and warnings have been issued as far south as parts of north Florida, coastal Georgia, and the low country of South Carolina, including the cities of Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C.," the Weather Channel reports.

According to the Miami Herald, "While no one [in South Florida] will likely find enough material for even a junior Frosty the Snowman, think possible snow flurries in Orlando and parts north, along with ice and freezing rain." NBC 6 reports that Universal's Volcano Bay will be closed through Friday, while Disney's Typhoon Lagoon and SeaWorld's Aquatica will shut down through at least Thursday because of the weather.

As the storm moves its way up the coast, "low pressure intensifying off the New England coast will spread snow and wind into parts of the Northeast Wednesday night-Thursday. Near-blizzard conditions are possible in coastal New England," the Weather Channel says.

"There is very high confidence on the general track and intensity of this storm as it heads from off the mid-Atlantic Coast toward Nova Scotia, which will get a direct hit of heavy snow and high wind. As usual for East Coast winter storms, though, the devil lies in the details, including exactly how far northwest the storm tracks and the width of its swath of heavy precipitation," according to Weather Underground.

One of the warmest years on record for the United States ended with a record or near-record cold snap in many parts of the country in the final week of 2017.