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It's game-day, folks as Winter Storm Grayson is set to dump over half a foot to the region this Thursday. We have everything you need to know with an updated snowfall forecast below.
Timing:
Snowfall peaks in intensity between 7am and 3pm
Ends between 5pm and 9pm
Winds:
24-48 hours of strong winds
Gusts as high as 50 mph inland, 60 mph at coast
Spotty power outages are possible (have generator ready to go) due to Arctic cold behind it
Temperatures:
Thursday: Highs in the low to mid 20s
Thursday night: Temperatures plummet into the single-digits
Friday: Highs in the low teens
Snowfall:
Confidence: Moderate to High
Forecast: 6 to 12 inches across southwestern Connecticut
Heaviest totals for eastern portions of area
Winter Storm Grayson is set to bring the heaviest snowfall so far this season to the area on Thursday. Snow will begin early Thursday morning and will continue to fall all day Thursday. It will then dwindle down in the form of light snow showers during the evening hours. Schools and travel to work will be disrupted with expect widespread closures. Travel should also be avoided overall due to the slick conditions expected and brief blizzard conditions.
Grayson continues to rapidly strengthen off the Mid-Atlantic coast. He will move north-northeast up the U.S. East Coast and will likely pass just south and east of the 40/70 Benchmark this afternoon. This benchmark often determines if a storm will maximize its impacts. When a storm moves over this location, as shown below, heavy snow often falls along the coast. With this storm, however, it will have such an expansive snow shied that we will likely deal with at least a brief period of heavy snow. I am anticipating the heaviest snowfall rates to occur from the late-morning through the early-afternoon. This will lower visibilities and travel will be the worst during this time period. Snowfall rates will likely reach one to two inches per hour for several hours, so this snow will add up fast.
Pressures with this storm will be unusually low when it nears the Northeast coast. It may be as low as 940 mb! When pressures get this low, you know winds around it will be strong. Expect wind gusts upwards of 50-60 mph from Thursday morning through Friday evening. These winds may cause spotty power outages. This is definitely concerning because of the extreme cold headed for the weekend. Temperatures will be sub-zero and in the single-digits for lows and highs will only be in the teens from Friday through Sunday.
Based on the overnight model data and the current conditions, I have increased the snowfall totals expected to 6-10 inches for extreme western portions of our area and 10-14 inches for the large remainder of the area.
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