Coastal storm expected to skirt offshore this weekend
This mornings operations at the forecast desk could almost be mistaken for mid-winter. All kidding aside, forecast models have jumped around over the past several days in regards to the track and intensity of a coastal storm system which is now expected to pass just barely south and east of our area on Friday. The storm itself is forming due to an energetic mid level atmospheric disturbance, which will drive southeastward into the Mid Atlantic states later today and Friday. This will aid in the development of a surface low pressure system, and plenty of atmospheric moisture will help develop precipitation across the Mid Atlantic States.
Perhaps most notable is the fact that this atmospheric energy is undercutting a very fast atmospheric flow to its north, over the Great Lakes and New England. This means that the storm system won’t have much room to move northward — and its development will be shunted to the east instead of expanding northward and westward. Fast northwesterly winds aloft will keep the pattern moving, especially over New England. So the low pressure system at the surface will respond accordingly, developing from the Mid Atlantic and then seaward toward the Western Atlantic Ocean.