The powerful early season cold blast in recent days responsible for Chicago's chilliest
weather in 6 months, and freezing temperatures south to Florida, produced explosive
storm development on the Mid-Atlantic coast Tuesday. Barometric pressure readings
-- a gauge of storm intensity -- went into a 12-hour dive which revved coastal winds
to gale force (39+ m.p.h.) while burying northern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and
a swath of eastern New York beneath one of the region's heaviest early season
snowfalls. National Weather Service forecasters ranked the 17 inches that fell in
northeast Pennsylvania as that area's heaviest early season accumulation in at least
three decades while the 14 inches measured at High Point State Park, N.J., was that
state's heaviest early snowfall on record. New York fared little better. New Kingston was
buried beneath 15 inches. Winds drove rain horizontally in Cape May, N.J., and roared at
velocities up to 66 m.p.h.
By contrast, temperatures in the Plains soared 25 degrees Tuesday afternoon over
readings 24 hours earlier. The eastbound mild air promised relief from the chill in the
Midwest.
--Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
