Dry air close to the surface courtesy of easterly winds is inhibiting the snow as of early afternoon. Our forecast of bringing the snow in by late afternoon appears to be panning out just fine consequently. Once the atmospheric column saturates top-down, the snow will increase and begin to stick. It still looks like a 1"-3" deal, with the heaviest amounts falling well south of I-80. Most of us will get something on the order of an inch out of this, as the major storm takes aim on millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimore and D.C. could get 2 feet out of this with blizzard conditions due to strengthening winds. Back here, I'm still keeping the lake-effect card on the table for the IL side tomorrow. The temperature profile between the lake and air overhead isn't ideal for optimum snow production, but some minor accumulations could occur Saturday. A stronger system looms for the Monday night/Tuesday time frame. At this range, it looks like a 3"-6" affair, but stay tuned to Phil over the weekend for the very latest on the ABC-7 Mothership!
Mike
