Nor’easter wallops Northeast with over half-foot of snow for some cities, leaves others with historic deficit

A powerful nor’easter impacted parts of the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday, bringing the region’s first major winter storm of the year and a myriad of snow, wind and freezing rain.

Heavy snow fell across Pennsylvania and western Maryland on Saturday afternoon, with an accumulation around 1-2 inches per hour, making for slick roads.

“This is a really fascinating storm system,” said FOX Weather Winter Storm Specialist Tom Niziol. “It’s going to pack a punch.”

Widespread Winter Storm Warnings are in effect for several inches of snow across swaths of the interior mid-Atlantic, Northeast and New England, including Boston and the northern Interstate 95 corridor.

In all, about 35 million Americans from Virginia to Maine are under winter weather alerts.

West of I-95, temperatures will stay cool enough for the precipitation to be all snow, with accumulations from Pennsylvania to New England.

The big winner of the storm will be Upstate New York, northeastern Pennsylvania and New England, where the heavy snow will linger the longest. 

Cities such as Boston and Worcester in Massachusetts, Manchester in New Hampshire, Hartford in Connecticut, Albany in New York, Providence in Rhode Island and Scranton in Pennsylvania have a high likelihood of seeing 6-plus inches of snow, with parts of Upstate New York and inland New England getting perhaps up to a foot of snow by the time everything is said and done on Sunday.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was one of the communities that ended its slowness streak of nearly a year as its last significant snowfall was on January 25, 2023. 

“I am thrilled (about the snow),” said Chris Reese, owner of Cannon Coffee in Hagerstown, Maryland. “My children are very young, and I feel like my youngest hasn’t even experienced a real snow in the past couple of years. And growing up here, we had massive snowstorms. And I remember jumping off the first-floor roof of my kitchen into this giant mound of snow. And I’m excited for my kids to experience a decent snow this year.”

While fun for those at home, the wintry weather is keeping snow plow drivers busy.

“Guys are all out there trying to do their best to get it cleared out for you guys,” said Keith, who is part of the snow plow crew for public works in Hagerstown.  “If you can just stay home, that’s the best thing to do, and that way, we can try to get it cleared out the quickest way for you guys. Less traffic, the quicker we can get done.”

“As we get into Sunday, a second little piece of energy comes into this system, and you’ll see how the winds will be shifting Sunday during the daytime into more of a northeasterly track,” Niziol said. “When it does that, the colder air out of northern New England slides southward, and we are going to get hit with a burst of snow Sunday afternoon in that area. That is going to be significant.”

The snow is expected to be wet and heavy versus dry and powdery. Heavy snow and strong wind gusts may lead to downed trees and power outages.

New York, Philadelphia will likely miss out on accumulating snow 

On the other hand, while areas such as New York City and Philadelphia will see snowflakes fly on Saturday, an ocean influence with water temperatures in the 40s and 50s will keep coastal communities from New York City southward from seeing much, if any, accumulation.

“The I-95 corridor from D.C. up through Philadelphia – it’s just way too warm for any significant snow,” Niziol said.

This means that the current record streak of consecutive days without an inch of snow is likely to continue in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Weather observation cites around New York City, including Central Park, saw less than a quater of an inch of snowfall before the mixed precipitation rolled in.

As of Saturday evening, the greatest snowfall totals were over the Appalachians that make up Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Many communities saw more than half a foot of snow, which was anticipated.

Snowfall observations for the entire storm system will continue to add up as the storm system pushes eastward and impacts cities in the Northeast and New England.