This is the second major snowstorm to begin moving across the northern part of the U.S. within the last 10 days. Snow will accumulate from eastern Washington state and Montana to Colorado, the Dakotas, Minnesota and northern Wisconsin.
Besides bringing record low temperatures to many areas, the early snowstorm will dump from a few inches to more than two feet of snow over the northern Rockies and will shock areas farther to the east over the northern Plains with blizzard conditions.
The snow will accumulate over nearly half a million square miles of the interior U.S. – in some cases – covering areas that saw temperatures from the 50s, up to the 80s less than 24 hours ago.
This impressive but dangerous early-season storm has already spread snow into parts of the Dakotas and western Nebraska and continues to fall in some areas of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. By tonight, snowfall rates will increase in the Dakotas.
The National Weather Service has posted winter storm warnings and watches in Wyoming, the Dakotas, northwestern Nebraska and northwestern Minnesota due to the threat of heavy snow in these areas. The weather service called it a “potentially historic October winter storm.”
“Near-blizzard to full-fledged blizzard conditions are possible across portions of central North Dakota Friday afternoon into Saturday morning,” the weather service in Bismarck said. “Expect high impacts and dangerous to impossible travel conditions.”
The National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota, noted “this northern Plains snowstorm will occur exactly one year after a somewhat similar storm dumped over a foot of snow in parts of eastern North Dakota in mid-October 2018.”
Some sun peeking out in montana accuweather 629W0DeVOt
— Jonathan Petramala (@jpetramala) October 10, 2019
Nor’easter threatens Eastern Seaboard
An area of low pressure has developed well off the mid-Atlantic coast, and rain from this system will continue to overspread much of southeastern New England, Long Island and parts of the mid-Atlantic coast.
Wind gusts of over 50 mph have already been recorded in Nantucket, and Provincetown, Massachusetts, while coastal flooding shut down sections of U.S. 30 and 40 west of Atlantic City and state highway 47 in Wildwood, New Jersey. The onshore wind will have several notable impacts along the Eastern Seaboard into Saturday.
The 1st noreaster of the season across southeast MA with gusts so far 54 MPH on Nantucket and 41 MPH here in #Plymouth = high surf.
With the storm stalled it’s going to last through Friday night. G5mFcTiMvr— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) October 10, 2019
The prolonged event will see widespread moderate coastal flooding from the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina to Cape Cod, with localized major flooding possible. This event will last several days and extend across as many as six high-tide cycles, allowing water to pile up in vulnerable areas.
Additionally, the National Weather Service in Boston noted that there could be a number of days without power for those near the coast of southeastern New England. Sustained winds of 40 mph with higher gusts are expected across southeast New England. Gusts could top 50 mph on eastern Long Island, and 60-mph gusts cannot be ruled out on Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Block Island.
