Another Coastal Storm Hits the East

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Another Coastal Storm Hits the East
9AM EST, December 17, 2003

A low pressure system forming over the
Carolinas early Wednesday will
become the next in a seemingly
endless series of coastal storms that
have raked the East Coast.
This round of storminess will be
different this time. The low pressure
system will track very near the coast
and with little cold air in place; much of
the East will experience rain.

Interior New England and the
Appalachian mountains will see cold air
filter in as the precipitation ends later
today and a brief period of snow could
whiten the ground with up to 3 inches.
Some wet snow could even be seen in
the far northern and western suburbs of
Baltimore, Washington DC and
Philadelphia.

The WeatherBug live sensor in
Frostburg, Maryland had recorded the
temperature dropping to 30 degrees
early this morning and the camera was
catching wet snow pasting the lens.
Early on Wednesday, cold air was
already spilling out of the Appalachians
and dropping temperatures into the
lower 30s. Rain had changed to snow
in the mountains of western Virginia,
West Virginia, Maryland and western
Pennsylvania.

Further north, in New England, it will be
rainfall and rising temperatures melting
a deep snow pack that could cause
flooding from eastern Pennsylvania into
Maine. Some locations have nearly 3
feet of snow on the ground and this
could create some big problems when
the rain intensifies and the
temperatures push into the 40s.
WeatherBug live sensors in eastern
Pennsylvania had seen rainfalls of up to
three quarters of an inch by 8am with
more on the way. Bethlehem had
measured .74" with heavy rain falling.
As the storm pulls northeast, gusty
winds will follow the system, dropping
wind chills into the single digits and
teens late today and tonight. The wind
chill in Frostburg, Maryland had already
dropped as low as 16 degrees early on
Wednesday.

This storm will slowly move north today
and should be tracked closely for flood
and winter weather potential.