Saturday, December 19, 2009

Blizzard of 2009

I'm home (Moorestown, NJ) for the winter break from my school and with 2 more days until the official start of winter, the snow and the wind from storm that we have gotten today, really is a blast of winter. As of 11:45 am the total amount for Moorestown was 4.5 inches, but this storm is not over yet. The Weather Channel is calling this storm the Blizzard of 2009 and I can see that because of the snow and the high winds at 17 to 25 mph. The cams from the different areas that they are showing like the White Housed in Washington, DC and Philadelphia, PA, are also unrecognizable because of the whiteout conditions from the blowing snow. Around the area the totals from the storm vary in Mount Holly, NJ the total at 9:45 am was 2.3 inches and in Burlington,NJ the total was 1 inch at 7:46 am. Atlantic City,NJ at 7:00 am had 2.6 inches and Philadelphia, PA had 2.0 inches at 7:00 am. These are just the totals from earlier today and more is expected from the storm. The forecasters are saying that the rate at which the snow is falling is 1 to 2 inches an hour and are predicting the storm to be over by 6:00 am tomorrow.

Travel has been halted by the storm and I saw the Philadelphia International Airport is reporting 6 hours delays today and many cancellations. If you do not have to be on the road, do not go on the road. Stay indoors if you can, with the high snow totals the car may get stuck. This storm is historic in some areas. In Baltimore, MD they are reporting up to 15 inches of snow and in Washington, DC the totals are near 20 inches of snow. It may be more once the storm is officially over. For my area we've probably received much more accumulation since 11:45 this morning and 8 to 10 more inches is predicted to accumulate by the end of the day. Below is a map from the Weather Channel, showing predicted precipitation accumulations.


This is a surface map valid 12:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, from the Weather Channel. See how the low pressure is off to the coast. Further North of this map is a high pressure system which is blocking this low pressure system and the cold air from the high pressure system is feeding in with the moisture of the low pressure system and the result is the snow! The winds are strong because the isobars between the high pressure system and the low pressure system is tightly packed and the tighter the isobars are between the gradient of high pressure to low pressure, the stronger the winds are.


Stay tuned to your local weather channel or news report for more updates on the storm. I'll post some pictures from around my area of later tonight. Be safe!

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