海角大神

A winter storm is headed for the East Coast this weekend, and meteorologists across the country tend to agree: it鈥檚 going to be a big one.聽

Inches 鈥� and even feet 鈥� of snow are predicted to hit the East Coast on Friday and carry over into the weekend. Although the storm is still two days away, meteorologists say computer models forecast that it will track between the Carolinas and Boston this weekend. It鈥檚 just a matter of which cities will get the most snow.聽

鈥淭he atmosphere is complex, and a lot of things have to come together,鈥� Rich Otto, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service鈥檚 Weather Prediction Center, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview Wednesday. 鈥淐old air is No. 1, and a lot of moisture to move into the cold air, and then the strength of the storm to increase wind speeds.鈥�

But the East Coast sees snowstorms every year. What鈥檚 the big deal?聽

鈥淲e talk about these perfect conditions coming together, and [when they do] it is usually for a narrow area of the country,鈥� Otto tells the Monitor. Much like the Boston blizzard that wrecked havoc on southern New England this time last year, 鈥淭his storm is going to be widespread, a lot of folks will see heavy snow,鈥� he adds.

Otto says that meteorologists and East Coast residents have used the terms "historic" and "record-breaking" in the past to describe storms that exist in a 鈥渘arrow area, and are not widespread.鈥� This weekend鈥檚 storm, however, might give these past storms a run for their money.聽

Could all this hype be wrong?聽

It鈥檚 鈥渉ighly unlikely鈥� we don鈥檛 see a big storm, says Otto. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 always potential for wrenches to get thrown into the mix,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚f the air temperature warms up, some of the snow could become freezing rain.鈥澛�

But there are usually signs that a storm鈥檚 speed is decreasing, Tom Niziol, winter weather expert at The Weather Channel, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview Wednesday.聽

鈥淰ery often with these types of storms, there are a lot of questions about if it will be cold enough to produce snowfall, [because] sometimes it turns into an all-rain event,鈥� says Niziol. 鈥淏ut these models have been remarkably consistent in their prediction of a major snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic region. They are all on board with the same scenario, they are telling the same story.鈥澛�

The mid-Atlantic region between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia will get the worst of it, says Niziol. While subsequent prediction models have not weakened the storm, they have moved it a little more south each time.聽

鈥淭he jury鈥檚 still out on how much snow for Boston [and] New England,鈥� says Niziol. Meteorologists still have to 鈥渇ine tune鈥� the Northern details, but Niziol predicts a "top five" storm for DC and Baltimore this weekend.聽 聽