Winter Storm Warning Canceled, But Nor'easter Could Still Bring Snow Accumulations
By Kate Bilo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As we enter the evening hours, we're hearing and seeing some good news in relation to the nor'easter's impacts across our area.
First and foremost, we're past one high tide at the shore, and all reports indicate that no major tidal flooding has occurred and shore communities fared quite well. This is mostly thanks to the nor'easter shifting a bit further east and not deepening as rapidly as anticipated. This means the winds have not been quite as strong either - while winds could still gust to 50 mph or so down the shore, the gusts likely won't be strong enough or sustained enough to cause further damage.
Many of us have seen our first flakes of snow today with this storm, with the heaviest falling across interior South Jersey. While bursts of snow are still anticipated into the evening hours, there is some good news on that front as well: the National Weather Service has canceled the Winter Storm Warning and brought us back down to Advisory status.
We never really altered our snow expectations since this morning's map despite the issuance of the warning, mainly because we were concerned that borderline boundary level temperatures and melting and compacting could really reduce observed snow totals. We do still anticipate 2" up to around 4" of snow, with the higher end of that range likely falling in interior NJ where the snow has been coming down heavily through the day. Most of that accumulation will be observed on grassy and unpaved surfaces, though after the sun goes down there could be some slushy spots on back and secondary roadways.
So the majority of the forecast still stands, but winds will not be as strong, and this means the threat for power outages has diminished. The evening commute continues to be messy, but the good news is most of the precipitation will taper after around 11 p.m., and despite the threat for some slippery or icy spots on area roadways early tomorrow morning, the storm will be all but gone, and we'll welcome warmer weather and sunshine back for the weekend.
