Major storm targets Northeast after largely snow-free winter

@susmiller USA TODAY

With “official” spring practically at our doorstep, a late-season storm was poised Saturday to pummel parts of the Northeast — in many places where snow has been AWOL for most of the winter.

The storm, billed as a potential nor’easter, comes as brutal payback for a mild winter and a particularly toasty February that ushered in early buds on trees, shrubs and flowers. It was the nation’s second-warmest February since climate tracking began in 1895. Sixteen states experienced their warmest February ever recorded.

The system was developing Saturday off the Pacific Northwest coast, Accuweather senior meteorologist Tony Zartman said, and would merge with energy off the Texas coast and move up the Eastern Seaboard late Monday into Tuesday.

While it was too early to predict the exact timing and track of the storm, “significant amounts of snowfall — over 6 inches” are possible for parts of the Northeast, Zartman said. In the line of fire: Washington, D.C., northern Maryland, New York, central and eastern Pennsylvania, and a large part of New England.

Zartman said the snow will be the “heavy, wet” kind, and winds could exceed 40 mph as the storm powers up over the MidAtlantic and New England. Downed trees, power outages, and blowing and drifting snow are all possible

“It will cause a major travel disruption, and in some places travel may be impossible,” Zartman said.