That Snowstorm Is Really Going To Screw Up Your East Coast Travel Plans Wednesday

Here's the Weather Channel's take on how much snow
will fall with the upcoming storm.  

Now it's official.

That snowstorm is indeed going to hit along the East Coast Wednesday, and it's going to be a nasty one.

It probably seems hard to believe, given the warm temperatures yesterday, in some places record warm.

Massena, N.Y. had a record high of 70 degrees and Burlington, Vermont had a record 67 degrees for a high. Montpelier, Vermont reported a record high of 64 degrees.

It's still going to be in the 50s today in many areas about to get snow blasted Wednesday. Go figure.

The bullseye of the heaviest snow will be along and west of I-95 from western Virginia, western Maryland, the southeastern half of Pennsylvania, the Hudson Valley of New York and interior New England, except the far northwest.

In this area, at least 6 to 12 inches of snow looks like a good bet. A few places might get more.

This is by no means the worst snowstorm the Northeast could possibly get, but it is hitting at the worst possible time, since Wednesday is probably the busiest travel day of the year.

Most of the snow will hit during the day Wednesday, and Wednesday night. The Wednesday night snow will be mostly up toward New England.

It's going to be a heavy, wet snow, which is the worst for driving on. It compacts under car tires into ice, and there's usually a little water on that road ice, making it especially slippery.

It will snow really, really hard, with rates up to 2 inches an hour at times, so visibility will be bad.

And airports in the region? Fuhgettaboutit. I guarantee flight delays and cancellations, which could have ripple effects across the nation.

I wish I had better news, but there you go.

As is often the case with nor'easters, it looks like far northwestern New England and points west and north of that will escape most of the storm.

For instance, in Vermont, a foot or more is a good bet in the far south of the state, and way up by the Canadian border near Lake Champlain, little if any will accumulate.

The storm is intense, but a fast mover, and will be pretty much gone by Thanksgiving Day. By then,  the damage will have been done.

I'm guessing some people are going to miss their Thanksgiving feast, or at least have it sometime after Thanksgiving, because they won't get to their destinations in time.

If you can leave for wherever you're going today, do it. There's no weather problems to report on the East Coast, except for rain and some thunderstorms in the Southeast.

Elsewhere in the nation, things aren't perfect in the weather department either. Winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings are up for a broad area of Montana and the northern Plains.

High winds are buffeting the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, there's a flood watch in the Washington State, and southern California is bracing for possible wildfires.