Snowmageddon 2016 Allegedly Approaches

Months into the wimpiest winter in recent memory, we’re finally going to get a major blizzard this weekend. Allegedly. Meteorologists are positively giddy about having actual news to report. From the Weather Channel:

Winter storm watches have been issued for 14 states from the Mid-South to the East Coast in advance of Winter Storm Jonas. In addition, blizzard watches have been issued for parts of the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas. Now is the time to prepare for Winter Storm Jonas, as conditions will go downhill quickly across portions of the East with snow, ice and wind, ramping up Friday and lasting into the weekend.

The blizzard watch is valid from Friday afternoon through late Saturday night, for a dangerous combination of heavy snow and blowing snow that will cause life-threatening conditions. The strong winds will also lead to a higher risk of power outages, along with serious coastal flooding along parts of the Atlantic coast.

Some or all of the largest cities in the Northeast – Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York – will be significantly impacted by this storm with heavy snow and strong winds, bringing travel to a grinding halt, between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Major airports up and down the east coast have already warned of extended delays and possible closures. If you’ve got to be somewhere this weekend, you should probably try and leave tomorrow. Last year all of New York City completely shut down – including mass transit – in advance of what was heralded as the worst blizzard in a century. As it turned out, we barely got a dusting. Anyway, time to get the bread and milk.