Weather forecasters say a potential coastal storm may be brewing off the Mid-Atlantic coast next week. But don’t cancel any Halloween plans in New Jersey just yet.
Local forecasters stress there’s a high degree of uncertainty about next week’s forecast, and it will likely take a few more days before the weather picture becomes more certain.
“For now, there’s certainly the possibility for a storm around that time period. But exact details are far from clear,” said Zachary Cooper, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s main forecast office in New Jersey.
“We are watching for the potential, but that’s very at the end of the forecast period, so there’s a lot of inherent uncertainty,” Cooper added. “And right now we can’t narrow down any details as to whether this storm occurs.”
Some early computer guidance models are projecting a rain storm to move from the Great Lakes region and toward New Jersey during the middle to later part of next week.
The models hint at the development of a new storm system over the Atlantic Ocean around the same time, and that could evolve into a coastal storm, forecasters say.
However, big questions remain over whether the coastal storm will actually form, where it will track and how strong it may become, Cooper said.
Steven DiMartino, a meteorologist for the private NY NJ PA Weather forecasting company, agrees there’s a high degree of uncertainty over next week’s storm potential.
“There’s some question as to how this low pressure system takes shape,” DiMartino said in a forecast video Thursday. “There’s a good chance this ends up a bit further east and misses us completely.”
For now, DiMartino said an area of low pressure may develop off the Mid-Atlantic coast with “showers developing through Wednesday afternoon.”
Periods of rain may linger through Thursday afternoon, Oct. 30, DiMartino said.
But it’s too early to get a good handle on the weather picture for Friday, Oct. 31, when most Halloween events take place.
“This could end up being a bit further out into the Atlantic, so we just end up with barely anything, just a few showers,” he said. “So we’ll have to watch this very carefully to see how this plays out.”
Cooper said computer guidance models seem to agree that “at least some sort of system will exist.”
However, he noted, “It’s just a matter of exactly what track it takes and how strong it gets… So the impacts to our area could range from almost nothing to fairly noticeable.”
Current weather radar
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