Challenging Weather Winter For New Englanders, And Forecasters

Coastal flooding in Highlands, New Jersey this morning. 

As we well know, the weather in New England has been all over the place this winter, with plenty of extremes, and quite a number of surprises. Most of the surprises have been bad.

Examples abound: The storm surge flooding in Massachusetts with the January 4 nor'easter was much more destructive than anticipated. 

The January thaw on the 12th was much warmer and much wetter than many forecasters anticipated. The result was ice jams and flooding that was worse than originally predicted region wide.

Today turned out to be another day of surprises for New England. Not so much here in Vermont: The cloudy, chilly weather that had been forecast for today by the National Weather Service in South Burlington and other Vermont meteorologists is verifying pretty much perfectly.

Not so in southern and eastern New England. Meteorologists knew an offshore storm would brush that region with some light to even locally moderate snow today. Once again, we have an overperforming storm.

As of 10 a.m., it was still snowing in parts of that region, and there are already several reports of six to eight inches of new snow in parts of Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut.

It's pretty gusty out there, too, with winds of up to 45 mph on Cape Cod and the Islands.

This is by no means a blockbuster snowstorm by New England standards, but it did surprise morning commuters with more snow than was in the forecast.

Worse, coastal flooding all along the coast from New Jersey north is a little worse than anticipated. We're nearing a full supermoon again, so astronomical tides are even higher than they normally would be. The not-so-impressive storm off the coast was forecast to make the tides a little worse, so some coastal flooding had been anticipated well in advance.

Though by  no means records, some of the coastal flooding is definitely worse than anticpated this morning.

Shoreline flooding has been reported in several communites in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Social media videos show flooding in Scituate, Mass., along Morrissey Boulevard in Boston, Hampton, New Hampshire and Ogunquit, Maine.

This isn't good. The flooding isn't super destructive, but let's face it. It's an astronomical tide that shouldn't be a big deal. The storm off the coast isn't that big at all. There should be basically no coastal problems.

Yet, we've got this. Sea level rise caused largely by climate change does seem to be making life along the New England coast, along with many other areas, more perilous.

Watch That Supermoon Eclipse Tonight Or Else!

If it's clear where you are tonight, the moon
will look something like this during the eclipse.  

The buzz among science and weather geeks tonight is the Supermoon eclipse.

It won't lead to any major scientific discoveries, but the Supermoon eclipse is Supercool for everybody, including anybody. Every average Joe and Jane. And those who like to howl at the moon.

Normal moon eclipses happen pretty often. Maybe once a year, even twice. It happens when the Earth gets in the way of the sun, so it stops shining on the moon.

What makes tonight's Supermoon thingy great is the moon is closer to the Earth than it almost always is. It's at Perigee, which means it's 31,000 miles closer to the Earth that at its farthest point. (The moon''s orbit isn't perfectly round, of course, so sometimes its closer to the Earth, sometimes is further away.)

When we have a Supermoon, to us Earthlings it appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than it usually does.

The moon was almost full last night, and I went outside under clear skies into my Vermont property, and I sure as hell didn't need a flashlight. It almost felt like daylight.

Lining up an eclipse with the Supermoon doesn't happen that often. It has happened in about 30 years, and after tonight, you won't see it again for until 2033.

So hope it doesn't get cloudy and get out that and watch.

It'll start at around 9:07 Eastern Time tonight, when it will start to appear a little nibble is being taken out of a side of the moon. That nibble will gradually spread across the moon until 10:11 when it's "eaten up."

You'll still see the moon during total eclipse, which peaks at 10:47 p.m. Eastern Time. It'll appear blood red. You'll really want to howl at the moon at this point. Just watch out for those noise complaints from neighbors

Of course, you'll want clear skies to see it. On the East Coast of the United States, generally the further north you go, the clearer it will be. Basically most of New England should be OK. But from the New York City metro area south, not so much.  

AccuWeather has this sky forecast for viewing
during tonights Supermoon eclipse. If you're in the green
, great viewing, yellow is so-so and red is kinda bad.

Luckily for me, the forecast for tonight at my perch in northwestern Vermont is for mostly clear skies and mild temperatures for this time of year.

Down into the Middle Atlantic states and the Carolinas, it'll probably be mostly cloudy tonight, but you might get a glimpse.

By the way, since the moon is closer to Earth than usual, the tides it causes are higher than normal.

The combination of this Supermoon, and a  weather pattern that features a wide flow of easterly winds over the Atlantic that piles water onto the U.S East Coast, coastal flood advisories and warnings are up for much of the Middle Atlantic Coast.

I also hate to say this, but the fact that sea levels are rising due to climate change and the land on the East Coast is sinking due to geological processes, this Supermoon flooding is a little worse than it would have been a few decades ago, before global warming really kicked in.

Chances are, especially if the weather patterns are right, the Supermoon flooding in 2033 could be even worse.

But now I'm getting gloomy, so I'll stop now. Just go out there tonight if you can and enjoy those eclipse moonbeams. You won't be disappointed.