What a storm! Haven't seen the likes of this in a while (actually last winter). Still haven't verified actual blizzard conditions anywhere along the coast. Officially a blizzard is defined as 3 consecutive hours of visibility less than a 1/4 mile in snow or blowing snow with frequent gusts (a loosely-defined parameter) of 35 mph or more.
But who needs that? We've been getting blitzed by heavy snow throughout the afternoon. Travel is not recommended at this point, and as hearty New Englanders, we don't often raise that red flag.
Snow will continue through the evening with varying intensity as the bands of snow rotate off our storm at sea. These bands have been enhanced by ocean-effect snow on the South Shore, where visibilities have dropped to zero at times and the drifts have been measured in feet!
As the storm pulls away, we'll see the snow bands decay - there isn't really a "back edge" of the storm that we're tracking. It's simply a slow drying through the evening and toward midnight.
Winds will continue through midnight along the coast. Gusts could reach 40mph as the storm makes its closest pass late this evening. With winds turning to the northwest, teens will rush to the coast and everything freezes solid. In addition, blowing and drifting snow will be an issue into the morning.
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