The historic winter storm over the Northeast is winding down this afternoon. Blizzard warnings continue until this evening.

A hurricane strength low pressure system is located about 100 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, off the Massachusetts coast. The remaining heavy bands of snow are located over Cape Cod.

Now, let the digging out and tallying begin.

Thirty inch snowfalls are common across SE Massachusetts. Some 33 inch amounts will be possible on the Cape. Snow drifts are reportedly up to 7 feet deep.

Some snow depths:
South Hamilton MA...Es*** County...31 inches
Boston...Logan Airport...21.3 inches
Worcester MA Airport...24.1 inches

An 84 mph wind gust was reported on Nantucket Island.

The 21.3 inches at Logan already positions the storm as the fifth greatest in Boston history. With another three inches expected, it may move into fourth place all time. The 13.0 inches at New York's Ccentral Park may fall short of the top ten there.

Running a tad behind today due to several computer problems. But finally got the system running again and the web update should be posted shortly.

Great job by Bill Murray in keeping everyone informed on the historic snow storm for the northeast US. Inauguration Day seems to frequently have a snow storm within a few day of that big event. My daughter in Chicago had about 5 inches of snow on her balcony and reported a pile of snow over her head while making her way to rehearsal (she's stage manager for an upcoming play up there).

Looks like our weather should moderate after a very cold day today. Interesting solutions that the GFS is coming up with beyond 7 days - at least something to tease us.

Have a great week.

-Brian-

Lake effect snow in North Alabama? The NWS in Huntsville mentioned that the snow over North Alabama this morning may have originated as moisture from the Great Lakes. That's snow that is far away from home!

The Northeast Snowstorm now has made top 3 status at Boston. 19.8 inches of snow was on the ground at Logan Airport at 8 a.m. EST. 17.8 inches at Providence RI. Both totals are top three for those locations.

The low pressure system that is causing the historic snows is located southeast of Nantucket this morning. It has deepened rapidly overnight, and now is as strong as a Cat 1 hurricane with a central pressure of at least 981 millibars (28.96 inches.)

Strong winds gusting to hurricane force over eastern Massachusetts are creating storm surge conditions, with water over the shore in several locations. The big winner so far in the North Beverly and Peabody area of Es*** County (northeast of Boston) where 26 inches of snow was on the ground.

This is dry powerdery snow, and it drfits easily. There are reports of six foot drifts over parts of Massachusetts. For example, most snow has about a 10:1 snow to melted liquid equivalency. At Bennington NH, the 18.0 inches that is on the ground melts down to only 0.75 of an inch of water. That's a 24:1 ratio!

In New York City...here are some snowfall amounts...
Central Park...13.0
LaGuardia Airport...11.3 inches
JFK Airport...11.0 inches
Upton NY NWS...Long Island...17.inches

Bill Murray has done a great job of keeping up with the historic New England storm this morning, but this is a quick note to let you know that snow continues to fall over Madison, Marshall and Jackson counties of northeast Alabama.

The ground is white in many areas, and reports are coming in of one inch in some higher terrain locations.

See the Hytop radar here:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.p19r0/si.khtx.shtml

Looks like snow is falling over northern Blount county, and might affect parts of Etowah, DeKalb, and Cherokee counties as the band moves east!

LATE REPORTS: Now getting many reports of light snow well down into north-central Alabama... looks like flurries and snow showers will be possble this morning for places like Birmingham, Anniston, and Gadsden.

Current Birmingham wind chill index is 8 degrees. Stay warm today!

Heavy snow is still reported at Boston at 6 a.m. CST this morning. The temperature has fallen back to 11F. Visibility was 1/4 mile.

The NWS in Boston is now saying that this could turn out to be the number one snowstorm in their history, even surpassing the 1978 monster that dumped 27.1 inches of snow over a THRE DAY period. This one is going to do it in JUST ONE DAY.

Boston has been experiencing true blizzard conditions since their 2:11 a.m. CST observation.

Storm totals are expected to be:
16-24 inches over NW Mass, southern NH, C/NE CT
28-38 inches over eastern Mass
12-22 inches on Nantucket Island
14-24 inches over Long Island/southern CT
12-18 inches over the NYC Metro area

Blizzard warnings continue for the same areas...Northern NJ...eastern NY...Connecticut...Rhode Island...much of Massachusetts....a small part of Vermont...coastal New Hampshire and coastal Maine.

Winds are gusting from 40-60 mph over all of coastal southern New England this morning. Wind gusts of 55-65 mph are expected this morning, with gusts as high as 75-85 mph expected this afternoon as the storm continues to intensify. The pressure is down to 29.17 at Nantucket, near the center of the storm.

SPOT REPORTS 6 AM CST
NANTUCKET SNOW 30 NE45G56 29.17S VSB 1/4
HYANNIS FOG 26 NE31G52 29.34R VSB 1/2
BOSTON HVY SNOW 11 N33G44 29.59R VSB 1/4
CENTRAL PARK LGT SNOW 17 N10G22 29.57R

An amazing report from Barnstable County, Massachusetts, which is SE of Boston and is where Cape Cod is located: Falmouth reports 8 inches of snow in just seventy five minutes before 2 a.m. There is now 20 inches of snow on the ground in East Falmouth.

Barnstable County and the Cape looks like it may be th ebig winner in the snowfall race from this storm. At 310 a.m CST, very heavy snow contiunues over the Cape and ove rthe Boston area.

New Bedford has 17 inches on the ground. Nantucket 10 inches. Interestingly, Nantucket switched over to heavy rain at 3 a.m. CST with a temperature of 33F. The center of the surface low is very near the island, where the lowest pressure (29.35 inches) was found.

There is 13 inches on the ground in Boston. Logan Airport reports 10.1 inches.

The NWS Boston is still conifent that this will be a top ten storm at Boston and Providence. The threshold to make the top ten is 17.3 inches at Boston. A wide area from northern New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine will pick up a foot of snow. Several bans of 30+ inch amounts will be observed over eastern Massachusetts.

Hurricane force winds will occur through the morning hours over eastern Massachusetts. A 67 knot (78 mph) wind gust has been reported on a tower at the entrance to Buzzards Bay. A 55 mph peak wind has been measured at Boston's Logan Airport.

What is a blizzard? Three hours of heavy snow or blowing snow that reduces visibilities to 1/4 mile or less and sustained or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more.

Late reports as of 11:35 pm CST from the Northeast US...

A heavy band of snow was causing whiteout conditions in the Boston area at this hour. Snowfall at the rate of 4 inches per hours and occasional lightning is occurring with this band that is rotaing north through the Boston area.

20-30 inches of snow is expecetd in Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Boston and Providence. Nantucket snowfall predictions have been downgraded a bit since the island is a little east of the coastal front.

Boston's Logan Airport had a 46 mph wind gust just before 11 pm CST.

Additional notes...

A state of emergency has been declared in New Jersey. All non essential vehicles are banned from state highways overnight. The City of New York has declared a snow emergency until further notice. Many roads and highways in NYC are closed because of dsiabled vehicles.

There are numerous cancellations and flight delays at LaGaurdia, JFK and Newark Airpors. Philadelphia International Airport is closed.

SNOW REPORTS
Boston Common...6.5 inches at 10 pm EST
NWS Boston (Taunton)...6 inches at 10 pm EST
Beverly MA...10 inches
Townsend MA..11 inches

Lightning strikes indicated on lightning detection networks tonight. A total of 408 strikes were observed on the Vaisala LDN between 730 and 930 pm CST tonight, all along the East Coast.

Record lows Saturday morning in NYC area...
Islip...1F
JFK...6F
LGA...5F

A Heavy Snow Warning is in effect for the mountains of western North Carolina tonight into Sunday where 4-6 inches of snow is expected to fall. A Heavy Snow Warning covers the mountains of eastern Tennessee also, where 3-6 inches of snow is expected, mainly above 2500 feet.