WEATHER UPDATE: Details Released On Nor'easter, 'Major' Snowstorm Possible For N.J.

UPDATE: WEATHER UPDATE: Foot Of Snow To Bury N.J.; More Details Released

Details have been released on a significant nor’easter/snowstorm packing 50 mph winds that forecasters say is “increasingly likely” to hit New Jersey and Pennsylvania beginning Friday afternoon.

The National Weather Service has also issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for all New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, saying 50 mph gusts along the coast raise the likelihood of widespread coastal flooding for the daybreak Saturday high tide cycle.

Forecasters are saying the storm could pack damaging winds that would qualify it as a nor’easter. The Weather Channel is calling it a possible “major” snowstorm.

“It doesn’t mean it’s set into stone,” Bernie Rayno of AccuWeather said in a video on the weather service’s site (see below). But the ingredients are there, he said.

The storm should hit from the west beginning on Friday, hitting the eastern Pennsylvania first and then laying a blanket across N.J. by Saturday, forecasters say.

AccuWeather released these details on the storm:

• If the storm develops to its full potential, a blizzard can unfold. The storm could shut down highways and perhaps cause airport closures.
• This is the type of storm that is likely to produce a very heavy rate of snow, perhaps 6 inches or more.
• In the swath of the heaviest snow, motorists who venture out during the storm could become stranded.
• Thunder and lightning could accompany the heavy snow in some coastal locations.
• The approaching full moon will cause high astronomical tides around the days where the storm will be near the coast, leading to heightened coastal concerns.
• The storm will roll onshore in northern California on Tuesday, then dip southward toward the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday before turning northeastward along the Atlantic coast on Friday.
• The wintry mix will ramp up over the southern Appalachians during Thursday night.
• Little to no snow would likely fall over northwestern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and northern New England
• A wet or wintry mix scenario is most likely from northeastern North Carolina to southeastern Virginia, part of the Delmarva Peninsula and southern New Jersey to begin the event.
• A period of snow is possible on the back side of the storm as colder air arrives.Alternative scenarios
• There is the potential for the hardest-hit areas to receive 1-2 feet of snow or more from the storm, where rain does not mix in.
• A shift in the storm track by 50-100 miles farther north would allow precipitation to become mixed with or change to rain in the I-95 corridor. A more northerly track would push the heaviest snow across the central and northern Appalachians.

Rayno said “energy” in the Pacific could derail it, but all things equal, this could be the first real storm of the winter.

“There are ways out of this,” he said. “But that is the potential if everything works right.”

“It would be a big one,” he said.

Related: Snow Coming To N.J. Friday Could Be ‘Big One’ [VIDEO]

Here is the NWS forecast for the week, followed by AccuWeather’s video:

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 27. Breezy, with a west wind 11 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 17. Northwest wind 7 to 11 mph.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 34. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming west in the afternoon.

Wednesday night: A chance of snow showers before 3 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 19. Light northwest wind. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 35. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph.

Thursday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 18.

Friday: A chance of snow after 8 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.

Friday night: Snow. Low around 26. Blustery. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent.

Saturday: Snow. High near 33. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent.

Saturday night: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. Blustery. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.