Tuesday Evening Blizzard Update

From last night: Nightime satellite view
of the nor'easter. Click on the image to make it bigger
and easier to see.  

There's been such  hue and cry today about how many of the forecasts for New York City incorrectly called for a record or near record deep snowstorm. 

What's being ignored, it seems, is the forecast for New England was almost flawless.

But the media center of the world is New York, not Boston. If it didn't happen in New York, it didn't happen anywhere, despite what you might see out your Havahd Yahd window.

However, the forecast for the eastern half of Massachusetts was for 24 to 36 inches with locally higher amounts. and they GOT 24 to 36 inches. Westford, Mass. has so far reported the most - 35.8 inches.

With snow continuing to fall this evening, there might be a few spots that get more than 36 inches.

The National Weather Service office in Taunton, Mass., near Boston, also said peak wind gusts on Cape Cod and the Islands would be between 70 and 80 mph. The peak gust in this storm was 78 mph in Nantucket.

The NWS also said there would be significant storm surge and coastal flooding today, and indeed there was.

I'm sure other forecasting offices will refine how they make forecasts. The National Weather Service office in the New York City area knew there would be a sharp cutoff of snow amounts as you head west from the Hudson Valley.

They misjudged by only about 30 miles where that cutoff would be, which is actually a good forecast. I just don't think they conveyed to the public ahead of the storm how much uncertainty there was in the forecast

Nor'easter always confound. Up here in Vermont, the forecast was basically right in southern and eastern Vermont was basically right, although snow totals were a little lighter than expected.

Then this afternoon, one of the intense snow bands from the nor'easter broke away, and traveled westward across Vermont, and held together remarkably well, despite having to cross the Green Mountains.  

An unexpectedly heavy snow band on the outer edges
of the big nor'easter passes through St. Albans, in
northwestern Vermont this afternoon.  

The snow band slowed down to a near stall in the Champlain Valley, dumping an unexpected three to five inches of fluffy, windblown snow in just three hours or so.

What are ya going to do, right?

Anticipate more snow. It likes the northeastern United States has an active weather pattern coming up.

A weaker storm coming in from the west could drop another two to five inches of snow, mostly in northern New England.

There's the chance of another nor'easter Monday, but I'm going to hold off on more details with that because things are really, REALLY uncertain as to how that's going to develop, if at all.

And it's going to be wicked cold. Especially early next week, where 30 below zero readings in cold mountain valleys of northern New England is a possibility.

Photos, Videos, Fun Factoids Keep Coming In From Blizzard of 2015

Severe coastal flooding today in Marshfield, Mass.
Storm surge flooding and battering waves
are, as expected, turning out to be the
most destructive part of the Blizzard of 2015.

The Blizzard of 2015 continues to rage in eastern New England as of noon Tuesday and will only slowly diminish during the course of the day.

There's mishmash of factoids, arguments, facts, photos and videos that are coming across that are all pretty interesting, so I'll share them with you.

First of all, click on this colored link for a wind field illustration of the storm center off the coast of New England. Do it now, because the storm is still near its peak and will be the most dramatic.

Pretty awesome.

Eric Holthaus at Slate and others have a pretty good argument as to how this storm could be related to global warming. I don't like to pin individual weather systems on climate change, but it does influence things.

From @Phillip586 on Twitter. Snow inundates a Hyde Park,
Massachusetts street today. 

Here's what Holthaus has to say:

"Ocean water temperatures off the East Coast are much above normal right now, as they have been all year. That's helping to boost the amount of moisture the setorm is able to convert into snow via enhanced evaporation. 

But there's an even easier link to climate change: Sea levels in the Northeast have risen by about a foot over the last 100 years or so, about half of which is directly attributable to warming seas and melting glaciers worldwide. 

There's 100 percent certainty, in my view, that sea level rise is making the impact of extreme coastal storms like this one worse."

You wouldn't think so, but since quite a bit of real estate near coastal areas is barely above normal sea levels, increasing the sea level by just a few inches, then pushing the water inland via a storm, can indeed make things a lot worse.

By the way, Massachusetts isn't out of the woods with this. There was a lot of coastal flooding and some structural damage with this morning's high tide.

Some of this morning's reports include 3.5 feet of storm surge water in downtown Nantucket, four  to five feet of water on a street in Hull, and ankle deep water in the rear of the Sandwich, Mass police department building.

Storm surge flooding in Scituate, Mass. this morning.  

Another round of flooding is due with this afternoon's high tide. As I expected, this will be the most destructive aspect of this blizzard. Lots of damage is being done in coastal New England.

The earlier flooding and 24 hours of battering waves have eroded beaches and buffers against storm tides.

Even though this afternoon's storm surge might be just a smidge smaller than this morning's the lack of defenses could make the flooding worse.

No surprise that coastal flood warnings are still in effect for most of the Massachusetts coast.

Here's what the latest National Weather Service/Boston statement on the coastal flooding, issued around 11:45 a.m. today:

TIMING...WITHIN SEVERAL HOURS OF THE LATE AFTERNOON HIGH TIDE. A
  FEW AREAS WERE UNABLE TO DRAIN FROM THE EARLY MORNING HIGH TIDE.
  RENEWED COASTAL FLOODING FROM THE NEXT HIGH TIDE COULD OCCUR AS
  EARLY AS 2 TO 3 PM.

* IMPACTS...FLOODING OF VULNERABLE SHORE ROADS AND BASEMENTS WILL
  OCCUR AGAIN DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON HIGH TIDE. THERE REMAINS A
  RISK OF ISOLATED STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN THE MOST VULNERABLE
  LOCATIONS. SEVERE BEACH EROSION IS EXPECTED...ESPECIALLY IN SUCH
  LOCATIONS AS PLUM ISLAND...PLYMOUTH...NORTH SIDE OF CAPE COD
  FROM SANDWICH TO EASTHAM...CHATHAM AREA...AND PORTIONS OF THE
  NANTUCKET SHORELINE INCLUDING THE SIASCONSET AREA. TOTAL WATER
  LEVELS SHOULD BE A LITTLE LESS FOR THE LATE AFTERNOON HIGH
  TIDE...BUT WAVES WILL LIKELY BE A FEW FEET HIGHER. WE ARE
  ANTICIPATING IMPACTS FROM THE LATE AFTERNOON HIGH TIDE TO BE
  COMPARABLE TO OR A LITTLE LESS THAN THE MORNING HIGH TIDE IN
  MOST AREAS. HOWEVER...THE IMPACTS ALONG THE CAPE COD NORTH SHORE
  INCLUDING THE SANDWICH...BARNSTABLE...DENNIS AND EASTHAM
  SHORELINE WILL LIKELY BE SOMEWHAT GREATER THAN THE EARLY MORNING
  HIGH TIDE. COASTAL FLOODING AND EROSION IN THE CHATHAM AND
  NANTUCKET AREAS WILL LIKELY BE AT LEAST AS SIGNIFICANT AS WHAT
  OCCURRED DURING THE PRIOR TIDE. AND ALONG THE ENTIRE EAST COAST
  OF MASSACHUSETTS...THE LATE AFTERNOON HIGH TIDE COULD COMPOUND
  ANY DAMAGE EXPERIENCED DURING THE PRIOR HIGH TIDE.

The snow, of course, is still pouring down. The deepest official snow report so far is 30 inches in Framingham, Mass, with many reports of more than 20 inches from Massachusetts, Long Island, eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island and coastal New Hampshire and Maine.

With heavy snow continuing and with Boston already up to 18 inches at last check, the city could break its all time record single storm snowfall of 27.6 inches. And a report of a four foot snow depth from eastern New England is not out of the question by the time this is done.

There continues to be a hue and cry in the media over the fact that New York City did not nearly get as much snow as forecast.

Yes, forecasters should not have so easily dismissed the American computer models in favor of the snowier European computer forecasting models, which up until now have had a better reputation for accuracy (Earned or unearned)

And yes, the media hyped the storm, based on the forecast for New York. But as the Washington Post notes, people are all pissy about this in New York. 

Here's one typical comment on Twitter:

"After NY-based media inundates rest of U.S with blizzard-mania & blizzard becomes bust, no wonder media not trusted and unwanted." 

Since so much of major media is headquartered in New York, the general feeling you get is that since the blizzard didn't happen in New York City, it didn't happen at all.

Tell that to people in Boston, Framingham, Marshfield and Hull, Massachusetts and out in Islip, Long Island.

As to be expected, the least helpful comment about the blizzard and the botched forecast came from Donald Trump, who tweeted: "President Obama, our great leader, wants to declare martial law in New York City as a means of helping out with the 'massive' storm."

Um, is Trump the only person on the planet who thinks Obama wanted to declare marshall law because of the blizzard? Oh I get it. Everything that goes wrong is Obama's fault. And the gays. Always the gays.

Comedian Louis CK chimed in on the storm as well, and he made a good point: Why was the storm called "historic" yesterday when it hadn't even happened yet?  The point being, aren't historic events by definition be things that happened in the past?

I'm a little gun shy at this point of forecasting other storms coming along when this one isn't done yet. As last night's missed New York forecast snows, you shouldn't insist that other big storms are coming

But, lighter snows are likely with a weaker storm due to cross the Northeast Friday, at least as it stands now.

Plus, there's the possibility, JUST the possibility of another nor'easter that could dump many more inches of snow on New England next Monday. That storm certainly won't be as bad as this one, and there's still a very decent chance the Monday storm won't happen at all.

I just want to throw it out there, just so you know in case it does happen.

But we'll have to get through this storm first. Easy for me to say, since so far at my perch at St. Albans, in far northwestern Vermont, I'd gotten no snow until about noon today.

Now, there's a little light snow falling, and there was a report of heavy snow in Montpelier and Morrisville, in central Vermont.

It's gotten windy, too, with gusts to 30 mph and temperatures, not including the wind chill, hovering around 10 degrees. It's a raw, raw, raw day out there.

But at least I won't have to spend the entire day in that weather shoveling three feet of snow. Three inches later today, at most, so that's not bad.

Next some good videos:

Here's what things looked like in Plymouth, Mass this morning:




From Storm Chasing Video, here's Boston early this morning:

Live Blog Blizzard Of 2015

Monday, 1/26/2015, 6:30 p.m.  EST

Last minute shoppers crowd at Whole Foods in New York as
the storm begins late this afternoon.  

The preliminaries are over now and the main show of the Blizzard of 2015 is now getting rolling.

The snow this afternoon was, to put it overly simply, stuff that was related to the storm, but not directly associated with it.

Still, that was good enough to dump 4.3 inches of new snow on New York City's Central Park by 5:30 p.m or so.

The first main band of snow directly associated with the rapidly deepening storm was moving northwestward into far southeastern New England as of 6:30 p.m.

This will continue to press to the north, and other bands of heavy snow will follow.

The storm is still strengthening fast as it lumbers northward off the Middle Atlantic Coast.

Even though New York City probably won't get the most snow of anybody out of this - southern New England will get it worse - there seems to be almost a sense of doom in New York.

All the subways are shutting down at 11 p.m., the first time in memory a snowstorm has done that. (Although they shut the subways down for Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Super Storm Sandy in 2012)

Pictures coming out of New York show long lines of people scrambling to get on public transportion before it all closes down.

There's also a photo of a Whole Foods with a huge scrum of people trying to get in to pick up supplies. (They waited until the storm started to get their stuff?)

Or as one wag on Twitter put it, maybe Whole Foods is now "New York's hottest club."

Broadway goes dark tonight, too. No shows. All shuttered.

By the way, if you're caught driving around New York after 11 p.m. tonight, when a driving ban goes into effect, you could face a misdemeanor charge and a $300 fine.

It'll be interesting to see how much snow New York actually gets. The Weather Channel is calling for 12 to 18 inches, while the National Weather Service says 18 to 24. Some computer forecasting models are backing off on the extreme snowfall in New York, but maintaining the heavy snow in New England.

We'll see.





Monday 1/26/2015, 5 p.m. EST

Weather geeks like me always read the forecast discussions on National Weather Service forecast office sites from all over the country. Especially when a storm is coming or is ongoing.

Forecast discussions lay down the basis as to why NWS meteorologists predicted the weather the way they did. Very often, these discussions are rather technical and science-y.  But they're very useful for clues as to what's going on.

It's reading the tea leaves, and the discussions point out which parts of the forecasts are pretty solid, and which parts will go bust.

Forecast discussions are great for the general public to start reading, too. Especially during this, the Blizzard of 2015. The technical stuff often has links to definitions, so you can follow along.

As an aside, I also like the fact the Forecast Discussions are in all caps. They're YELLING their thoughts.

When something epic happens, like now, forecast discussions can be absolutely epic, with humor, dire warnings -- basically a story.

Such is the case with today's National Weather Service forecast discussion from Taunton, Mass, which covers most of southern New England, including Boston.

First of all, the meteorologists who wrote today's Forecast Discussion are in awe of how fast the storm is strengthening, which give us our shot of humor. They inform us:

ITS BOMBOGENESIS BABY!

But then it's time to get serious, and you almost can't believe how serious this storm is:

THIS IS AN UNPRECEDENTED STORM FOR ALL S NEW ENGLAND FOR WHICH PREPARATIONS
SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE AND ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN ON A SIMILAR NATURE
NO MATTER IF YOU`RE UNDER A BLIZZARD OR WINTER STORM WARNING. THIS
IS A DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING STORM. YOU SHOULD NOT BE OUT ON
THE ROADS...LEAVING THEM CLEAR FOR EMERGENCY OFFICIALS AND SNOW-
REMOVAL EQUIPMENT. YOU SHOULD BE TAKING SHELTER AND MAKING PLANS IN
CASE YOU BECOME TRAPPED FOR DAYS AND/OR LOSE POWER. CONSIDER ANY AND
ALL POSSIBILITIES NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK THE OUTCOMES MAY BE.

SO TO REITERATE...70 TO 80 MPH FOR SE-COASTAL MASSACHUSETTS AND EVEN

POSSIBLY FOR CAPE ANN. AROUND 50 TO 60 MPH GUSTS INLAND AROUND THE
I-95 CORRIDOR / ACROSS THE COASTAL PLAINS. 30 TO 40 MPH GUSTS ACROSS
REMAINDER OF THE INTERIOR.

WITH STRONG TO DAMAGING WINDS...DOWNED TREES/TREE LIMBS...STRUCTURAL
DAMAGE. RISKS ARE GREATER WHERE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BE HEAVY / WET /
MORE WATER LADEN. SCATTERED TO WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES OVERALL WITH
GREATEST IMPACTS IN AREAS WITH STRONGEST WINDS.


Then we get into the coastal flooding:

. SEAS WILL
BE HIGH ENOUGH TO CAUSE SIGNIFICANT OVERWASH IN TYPICALLY
VULNERABLE LOCATIONS...ESPECIALLY BUT NOT LIMITED TO
HULL...SCITUATE...AND MARSHFIELD. NE SURFACE WINDS ANTICIPATED TO
BE GUSTING BETWEEN 50 AND 60 KT BY THE TIME OF THE EARLY TUESDAY
AM HIGH TIDE...PERHAPS EVEN GUSTING TO BETWEEN 60 AND 70 KT OFF
ALONG THE CHATHAM AND NANTUCKET COAST. SEVERE BEACH EROSION IS
LIKELY IN SOME SPOTS GIVEN THE ELEVATED WATER LEVELS...WAVE RUNUP
AND STRONG WAVE ACTION. THIS IS A STORM THAT COULD PRODUCE ONE OR
MORE NEW INLETS ALONG EXPOSED EAST AND NORTHEAST FACING BARRIER
BEACHES. WE ARE ESPECIALLY CONCERNED WITH THE EROSION POTENTIAL
FOR EAST FACING SHORELINES ALONG PLUM ISLAND...ORLEANS...CHATHAM
AND NANTUCKET.

Mon. 1/26/2015, 4:15 p.m. EST

Contrasts: Things look very stormy at mid-afternoon near
Central Park in Manhattan, via @Anthony Quinano on Twitter...

Conditions continue to deteriorate in the New York City metro area and the snow is spreading north through southern New England.  

Even as a large batch of snow moves north and northwestward from the Atlantic Ocean toward southern New England, that nearly stationary snow band still sits over Long Island and the New York city metro area.

People in the New York area who had expected to deal with light snow as they rushed home ahead of the main body of the storm are now contending with snowfall rates of one to two inches an hour. 

That's not quite the 2 to 4 inches per hour anticipated later, but it's still very disruptive. In any other storm, one to two inches an hour would be a Very Big Deal.

...at the same time, the sky was still bright blue at my
house in St. Albans, in the northwest corner of Vermont
High clouds began to overspread the sky in the past
half hour. Only three or four inches of snow
is anticipated from the storm here in St. Albans.  

As of just before 4 p.m., visibility was down to just 0.15 of a mile at Central Park, New York as the heavy snow poured down. That's the kind of visibility you see in western New York during particularly intense lake effect snowstorms.

Wind gusts are starting to go past 30 mph in some of the coastal regions of Long Island, New York and southern New England.

Some of the updated computer forecasting models have pushed snow totals back up toward 20 to 30 inches in The Big Apple. Some of those models had backed off a little on the snow for New York.

Forecasts have stayed consistent for snow in the 20 to 36 inch range for the southeastern third of New England, including areas around Boston.

The biggest threat continues to be the anticipated strong winds, storm surges and huge waves on Cape Cod, the Islands and other parts of coastal Massachusetts.

You do the math: A storm surge of up to 3.5 feet, 20 to 25 foot waves and winds gusting to 75 mph.

The National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass said the geography of Plum Island, Orleans, Chatham and Nantucket could change as the ocean could cut new inlets and erode a lot of beach.

That dire warning has been a consistent part of the forecast since Sunday morning.

For those who want to watch the snow's progress in New York, Scott McPartland is live streaming the storm in Queens, N.Y. as you can in the video below:





Those of you who want to enjoy the beauty of the snow can view this video taken as the storm started. It's slow motion images of the snowflakes and people in it. Very striking:






Mon. 1/26/2015, 2:25 p.m.

Well, this isn't good.

The "view" from 30 Rockefeller Plaza a short time
ago. The snow has really picked up in NYC.  

During nor'easters, a sort of warm front often sets up near the intersection of land and sea, often near Long Island.

That warm front sometimes focuses heavier snow in a band through the region.

One already seems to be setting up over New York City, northeastern New Jersey and Long Island.

By 2 p.m., the snow had picked up in intensity the snow band over that region is getting larger in area and heavier. The accumulation on the roads might be more than expected as people now try to get home from work before the heart of the storm.

Also, temperatures are lower than forecast in the region, so salt on the roads might not be working as well as hoped.

Speaking of hope, we can hope the snow band setting up temporarily weakens, or moves south or north of the New York City region.

This snow band, setting up a little earlier than expected, isn't a catastrophe, but it does complicate things even more.




Mon. 1/26/2015, 2:00 p.m. EST

"Bombogenesis" has begun.

Barometric pressure is falling rapidly now off the Mid-Atlantic coast as the storm gets its act together in a hurry. Pressure was dropping late this morning at a rate of about 1 mb per hour, which if that held for 24 hours, would just barely make the storm qualify as an "atmospheric bomb."

Now, the pressures are falling faster and faster, certainly quite a bit more than a rate of 1 mb. per hour.   Bombs away!

With the central pressure of the storm dropping, the contrast between that and high pressure in Quebec is increasing. Which means winds are already starting to pick up around New York City, Long Island and southern New England.

Nothing scary yet. Gusts are in the 25 mph range. Just making it raw. But the storm is just forming and is still far away. So you know the wind will get wild late tonight and Tuesday.

Lightning continues to flash quite a bit off the North and South Carolina coasts, more indication that things are progressing pretty much as expected with this storm.

By the way, not to scare you or anything, but there are signs three -- Count 'em THREE! more atmospheric bombs could go off east of New England in the week and a half after this blizzard ends.

Though you never know, the next three bombs, if they happen,  definitely appear as though they would be less explosive than this one, and more importantly, would go off after the initially weak storms get past New England and head into far eastern Canada or more likely, into the Atlantic Ocean east of Labrador and south of Greenland.

That would minimize the chances of more New England blizzards, but the storms would keep light snow and cold temperatures entrenched in the region.

Highest confidence is the one on Friday and Saturday, which could bring some light snow to New England. Ones following next Monday or Tuesday, and the end of next week, are very, VERY uncertain.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has been (understandably)
warning about the storm so much, he got some satire
from The Onion today.  

This info is just to keep you on your toes, is all.  

A bit of humor: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has understandably been in front of the cameras since yesterday, telling people to hunker down, stay off the streets during the blizzard, be careful, heed warnings, etc. etc.

The Onion summed up de Blasio perfectly with this headline and story a little while ago: "NYC Mayor: Reconcile Yourselves With Your God, For All Will Perish In the Tempest."

The Onion satirical article is worth the read 



Mon 1/26/15 12:30 p.m.

Infared satellite imagery from late this morning shows a
blossoming leaf like structure in the clouds off
the East Coast. A sure sign of a rapidly developing storm.  

Nor'easter causing the blizzard is now developing rapidly.

Actually a tad faster and sooner than expected. Eric Holthaus at Slate has a nice explanation of the earlier than expected development of a "negative tilt trough," meaning the storm will slow down and make high end snow totals a little more likely.

Also signs of a fast developing storm: TONS of lightning strikes off the North Carolina coast,  This could very easily lead to thunder snow in the blizzard zone later tonight and tomorrow.

There's also a  huge, blossoming leaf shaped cloud structure off the East Coast, a classic sign of a rapidly developing, soon to be intense storm.

Mon 1/26/15 12:20 p.m.

States of Emergency coming fast and furious

Governor Baker in Massachusetts has just declared a State of Emergency and has imposed a driving ban as of midnight tonight.

@NYScanner reports New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also declared a state of emergency. The Long Island Railroad shuts down at 11 p.m tonight, too.

Mon. 1/26/15 12:15 p.m. 

NYC Scanner reports that New York State Thruway and all New York State-controlled highways will be closed around New York City starting at 10 p.m. tonight.

Also, U.S. Airways and American Airlines is suspending service at Newark, JFK and LaGuardia as of this afternoon.

There are reports circulating now that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is declaring a state of emergency with this storm. There's wind advisories in central Florida and high surf advisories for parts of Florida's west coast.

The circulation of the burgeoning nor'easter is being felt far and wide.

Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground always has thoughtful takes on weather and climate in his blog Here's his take, posted this morning, on the blizzard. Worth the read.

Mon. 1/26/2015, 11:00 a.m.

Latest computer models seem to bring the deepest snow from the blizzard to central Long Island, much of Connecticut, and part of Massachusetts between about Boston and Worcester.

That's just one round of models, no guarantees that will be the bullseye for heaviest snow with this storm. Just remember everything is on track for a big blizzard.

I've got a couple random public service announcement for you. The first one is, before the snow gets going, run to the ATM to get some cash. In areas with widespread, long lasting power failures (I'm thinking especially Cape Cod) ATMs won't work in power failures. So you'll need cold hard cash after the blizzard to buy stuff.

Also, make sure the gas tank in your car is full. Gas stations don't work in power failures, either.

It'll be cold after the blizzard, and possibly brutally cold early next week. You might get low on heating fuel. Do your fuel delivery guy or gal a favor and shovel a path to the intake pipe.

I mean, you try dragging that heavy hose from the truck up a 75 foot steep hill through three feet of snow.

Mon 1/26/2015 10:15 a.m.

Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy bans travel in state starting 9 p.m. this evening. I bet other travel bans are in place or coming soon in the Northeast.

Amtrak says its running a normal schedule today, for now, but is going to re-evaluate things later today and tomorrow. Don't count on Amtrak service East Coast tomorrow. Check ahead. 

Really, nobody ought to be traveling in most of New England and the New York Metro area anyway later tonight and tomorrow.

An updated computer model, the NAM has a bullseye of a 50 inch storm total over central Long Island. I don't buy that, but three feet is a good bet in that area.


Mon. 1/26/2015, 10:01 a.m.

Eric Holthaus also has great live blizzard blog going over at Slate. Looks like he's focusing largely on New York so far.

Also, Logan Airport in Boston says no more flights there starting at 7 pm tonight, reports Airlive.net.  Flights tentatively scheduled to resume at Logan later Wednesday.

Mon. 1/26/2015, 9:44 a.m. EST:

I'm going to be doing my version of a live blog on the Blizzard of 2015.

I'm a one-man band, so there will be gaps as I work my other jobs and maybe sleep a bit tonight.

But there will be LOTS of fresh updates and info on this one. I'll offer my unique, but accurate and responsible thoughts on this blizzard as it progresses.

I'll send out Tweets and Facebooks posts as I update.

I'll also point you in the direction of other great resources as this storm develops, including other live blogs, forecasts, news sites, storm chasers and anything else that's interesting and helpful.

First update: The visible satellite presentation of this storm is already remarkable, even if it hasn't fully emerged from the Middle Atlantic States to just off the East Coast, as you can see in this post.