As Expected, Blizzard Of 2016 Is Totally Raging Now

A warning Friday on a highway
on the East Coast. Not sure if a
blizzard or a "lizzard" is worse.

Well, it was certainly advertised and the Blizzard of 2016 is certainly raging.

This thing is just beginning and everything is going to pot. Pretty much all the nation's flight schedule is screwed up, since you pretty much can't fly in or out of places like Washington DC, Philadelphia and most other cities in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

I'm getting reports of 18 inches of snow already in western North Carolina and 16 inches in eastern Kentucky, and we're not even into the teeth of the storm.  

Sadly, there are also already reports of seven deaths associated with this storm, all of them so far in traffic crashes. Unfortunately, this death toll is sure to rise.

How big is this storm?

Eric Holthaus in Slate did a back of the envelop estimate which indicates enough snow will have fallen in thsi storm to give every man, woman and child in American 7,000 snowballs.

Quite a little snowball fight, then.

It's still playing out pretty much as expected. There are signs that the New York City area could get a bigger blow than some forecasts have suggested, but we'll have to wait and see on that.

As of 8 p.m. Friday, the first of the storm's particularly heavy snow bands were moving into the Washington DC area. If you haven't made it home yet if you live in that area, you're screwed. Snowfall rates will vary, but when the heaviest bands pass overhead, snowfall rates could get up to three inches per hour.

 The Mid-Atlantic region is still in the bullseye, with one to three feet expected.

Oh, and a Jim Cantore alert: There's a very good chance of thundersnow with this storm, which is the Weather Channel Cantore's favorite weather.

The bad weather goes way south. In North Carolina, they're experiencing very lovely sleet and freezing rain thundestorms this evening. Ugh.

Icy, snowy weather is extending as far south as Atlanta.

I'm still most worried tomorrow about coastal areas. With winds gusting to near hurricane force and unusually high tides and storm surges, this could be a real disaster for places like Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.

This coastal flood potential has been well advertised for days now, but news about it has been squelched by the sexy prospect of record snow accumulations.

We'll have a LOT more to talk about with this storm first thing Saturday morning, when this disastrous storm reaches its peak.

Stay tuned!