First storm tonight, more to come

Meteorologists have been talking all week about the winter storms on their way to the East Coast.

With snowfall slated to begin tonight, it’s time to start heeding their warnings.

According to an AccuWeather forecast, the first storm will hit tonight. Snow is slated to start falling between 7 and 8 p.m. and trail off into the early hours of Friday morning.

“We have two storms coming in. One is going to come into tonight, and this is like just a nuisance. It’s a small accumulation, 1 to at most 3 inches,” AccuWeather meteorologist Maggie Samuhel said. “This one is child’s play in comparison to the one that’s coming in this weekend.”

The weekend, Samuhel said, is when the real trouble begins. AccuWeather forecasts snow to start Saturday afternoon.

“Because it’s going to be cold enough at the onset of the snow, it will accumulate right away,” Samuhel said. “Once it starts it’s going to be very heavy.”

The forecast grows bleaker as the weekend wears on.

Samuhel said Saturday night, a pocket of air coming in at midlevel, which she compared to skyscraper height, will create a perfect storm for worsening conditions.

“It’s going to be just mild enough to allow those snowflakes to kind of half melt, so we can have some rain drops and sleet mixing in,” Samuhel said.

“Sunday, the winds shift back northwesterly and we get back into the cold air. The warm pocket disappears — and that’s only going to be for a time — and then we get more snow throughout the day on Sunday,” she added.

AccuWeather is estimating 8-12 inches of snowfall between Saturday and Sunday. Wind speed is expected to exceed 20 mph on Sunday.

“This is definitely going to be disruptive,” Samuhel said.

Still, snowfall might be the lesser of the second storm’s impact.

In anticipation of this weekend’s forecast, the National Weather Service has given warnings of flash freezing by Sunday night. A flash freeze is a rapid drop in temperatures that freezes moisture already on the ground.

Because temperatures will likely fall 10 to 20 degrees in a matter of a few hours behind the storm, quick removal of fallen snow is encouraged to prevent slush from rapidly freezing.

Anybody planning on spending prolonged periods of time outdoors should dress in layers and warm clothing, leaving as little skin exposed as possible. Frostbite can develop in 30 minutes or less when temperatures dip to the levels forecast by AccuWeather meteorologists.

“With the temperatures dropping so rapidly, even salt becomes ineffective and everything freezes and turns into basically concrete,” Samuhel said.

As to be expected, the anticipated cold weather rush will have an effect on the roadways.

“The roads will start to get snow covered and become slippery Saturday afternoon, and they will stay that way until the storm ends and they can call the road crew out on Sunday,” Samuhel said.

But even after road crews begin clearing thoroughfares from the storm, there’s no promise of an easy drive.

“Here’s another kicker: because you have the wind coming out of the north, it is going to cause a lot of blowing and drifting snow, so Sunday afternoon you’ll still be dealing with lower visibility,” Samuhel said.