January 21, 2016

Here’s the Latest on the Epic Snowstorm Bearing Down on the East Coast

Don’t drive to work on Friday if you can help it.

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-134863763/stock-photo-woman-walking-in-the-winter-city.html?src=PP2n2JUI-AnzAq46OV9fCw-1-18">vvvita</a>/Shutterstock


Yes, 2015 was the warmest year on record. And yes, parts of the East Coast are in for big snow and ice storms this weekend. Those two facts are not contradictory.

With that out of the way, here’s what to expect from Winter Storm Jonas.

The latest forecast from the National Weather Service shows “a potentially paralyzing storm” that could affect up to 50 million people, NWS director Louis Uccellini told reporters Thursday afternoon.

“Right now, the heaviest snow starts in the mid-Atlantic late Friday afternoon and then progresses up to the New York City area by Saturday morning,” he said.

The heaviest snow impact is likely to land on Washington, DC:

Especially in New York and New Jersey, where snowfall could be up to one foot, major flooding is also predicted, on par with what you would expect from major hurricane landfall. Farther south, Uccellini said, Kentucky and North Carolina could face ice storms and freezing rain. Through the weekend, he said, East Coasters should expect delays affecting highways and air travel. The electric utility in DC said it has hundreds of crew members standing by to fix downed electric lines, and Port Authority workers in New Jersey are preparing to insulate underground train systems from the flooding:

As my Climate Desk friend Eric Holthaus explains at Slate, this storm is “the real deal.” Uccellini said his staff are working around the clock (and sleeping in their offices) and doubling the number of weather balloons being dispatched to get the best up-to-date forecast. But even now, he said he was surprised by the unusual level of agreement across a wide range of models, satellite reports, and other data sources. In other words, chances are slim that the storm turns out to be a nothingburger. 

“I would suggest people pay attention to this system,” he said.

The upshot: Now’s the time to buy some bottled water and batteries, and don’t drive to work tomorrow if you can help it. Oh, and, uh, make sure to tweet responsibly:

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

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So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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