00:00The winter storm is expected to continue to result in significant economic impacts.
00:05AccuWeather says a preliminary estimate places total damage and economic losses in the range of $105 to $115 billion.
00:13It's a preliminary estimate. Some of these damages economically and impacts will continue through tomorrow
00:19as many areas have yet to really face the worst of the storm up in Maine.
00:23It's still developing in many of these areas, and again, some of these reported losses and economic impacts will continue to come in throughout the course of the week.
00:31But that's our estimate here at this stage in the game.
00:34Joining us now to break down this winter storm is a familiar face.
00:38AccuWeather winter storm expert Melissa Constanzer.
00:40Melissa, I know you've been doing some big market radio hits in places like Philadelphia today.
00:46So what are people experiencing there, and how's this transition from snow to sleet going?
00:50It's getting a little frustrating, I think, for some.
00:54I've heard voices of people saying, I'm tired of hearing it for hours on the windows.
00:59Yeah, it's been the problem around Washington, D.C., now in Philadelphia, and even around New York City, we've seen the mixing.
01:06So this is the radar scan showing you where some of that snow has been falling, and you can see where the pink has been.
01:13And that has largely been coming down in the form of sleet just due to how cold things have been.
01:19And we also have a little bit of green now on the map, introducing some rain.
01:23But as we zoom in, one of the things you'll note, there's been some very heavy precipitation recently right along the I-95 corridor.
01:29So for Philadelphia, it becomes kind of one of these things when we talk about covering things versus radio and everything.
01:35It's more of a now casting.
01:37People want to know, well, when's the heaviest band through?
01:39When does things start to lighten up?
01:40And unfortunately, you can tell with the visibilities here, reduced to about a mile with some of that sleet coming down, it's been heavy.
01:46In fact, it's been even less than a mile for many locations at certain times, like in Long Branch.
01:51So that's how heavy that sleet is coming down.
01:53That reduces the visibility.
01:54It's a good way to measure how significant, how much precipitation is falling, how quickly.
02:00You can see, though, again, Atlantic City, four miles of visibility.
02:04They have been dealing with the rain.
02:06So what's interesting across the Philadelphia area, it's not overly big.
02:09It's maybe an hour drive from Atlantic City to Philadelphia, but they're 35 with rain in Atlantic City.
02:15And then as you work your way into Philadelphia, 20 degrees and sleet.
02:18And what's also very interesting, we've seen sleet even into the Lehigh Valley where they're in the single digits.
02:23Oftentimes when we get sleet, we're talking temperatures in the upper 20s, lower 30s.
02:29But in the 30s, Jeff, we're not really usually talking about temperatures that are in the 20s, teens, or single digits as we've seen today.
02:37There's a tremendous contrast in temperature here to the point that I think that some of the radar algorithms that try to approximate precip type,
02:43they've been under-representing sleet and over-representing snow just because, you know,
02:47this is a rare event here when you're in such cold air at the surface and getting milder aloft.
02:51But it's going to get real cold for a long period of time here.
02:54This is one of those things where if you don't get it off the ground, it's going to be sticking around for a while.
03:00Take a look at Philadelphia's seven-day forecast.
03:03Tomorrow is 30.
03:04That is the warmest we will be all week long.
03:07The rest of the week, we struggle to make it into the 20s.
03:10Most of the days will be spent in the teens or single digits.
03:14That's how cold it's going to stay through the rest of the week and beyond.
03:18So this is going to be some extreme cold.
03:19At least for areas like Philadelphia, we have not been impacted, Jeff, by the power outages.
03:25And a little farther north, it's all snow in Boston.
03:28How's this going up this way and what's the rest of the week look like?
03:31We are expecting this rain-snow line to start to push its way up,
03:34but it probably will cut off somewhere around Hartford and Providence area and then push its way out to sea.
03:40So we still expect it to stay all snow in Boston,
03:43which means you have the potential to get a little bit deeper of a snow ice pack just because it's light and fluffy.
03:49It doesn't compact.
03:50It's not heavy like the sleet has been on top of Philadelphia's snow pack, New York City's snow pack, for example.
03:56It's also very cold.
03:58Worcester, 7 degrees right now.
03:59Hartford, just 6 degrees.
04:01This cold air is what's helping to make the fine, powdery flakes that are, at least in some locations, pretty fluffy.
04:08And as we go through the upcoming days, do watch because the winds will pick up a little bit.
04:12That could lead to some blowing and drifting.
04:13But Boston, again, staying well below freezing the next couple of days.
04:17That snow is not going anywhere for the week, Jeff.
04:20And hopefully people have good ways to stay warm in this kind of cold.
04:24All right.
04:24We're below freezing until February.
04:26Thanks for all that there, Melissa.
04:28And you can hear Melissa on KYW Newsradio in Philly and beyond elsewhere as well.
04:32Thanks, Melissa.
04:33Yep.
04:33That's IQ Weather Winter Storm expert, Melissa Constanter.
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