It might head out to sea, or it might be a 'blockbuster" late-weekend blizzard for the East Coast.
As of the afternoon of Feb. 17, top computer models continue to pore through weather data to determine the direction and strength of a storm that's still several days away from the East Coast. At the moment, the models don't agree.
"While confidence in a storm is fairly high, the timing, track, and exact ... weather impacts remain highly uncertain," the National Weather Service said in an online forecast discussion posted Feb. 17 at 2:29 p.m EST.
The weather service said that the latest European weather model shows a "farther south track with little to no precipitation for the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast." However another model, the Europeans' AI model known as the EC-AIFS, "has been consistent in showing a fairly classic nor'easter set up for the region."
One forecaster, Weather Trader meteorologist Ryan Maue, in an email to USA TODAY, said the odds appear to be increasing for a major nor’easter with the potential for "blockbuster snowfall."
"A major storm is likely to develop out of the Southeast U.S. and emerge off the Mid-Atlantic and either head (1) east out to sea or (2) snuggle up nicely off New England," resulting in snow along the I-95 corridor, Maue said.
Environmental Glance
Several more beach homes have crashed into the ocean along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, littering the shoreline with hazardous debris while raising the total number of felled homes along the barrier island to 31 since 2020.
A powerful winter weather system — including an intense low-pressure "bomb cyclone" along the East Coast — is affecting a large swath of the country and driving extremely cold air deep into the Southeast.
At least seven people are dead as the result of a monster winter storm in the US that has brought heavy snowfall and ice from the Gulf coast to the north-east, leaving more than one million in the south without power and cancelling more than 10,000 flights.





























