A Search for Necessary Conditions for Heavy Snow on the East Coast

Abstract

An investigation into the synoptic conditions necessary for the occurrence of heavy snow on the east coastal plain of the United States has revealed no obvious characteristic antecedent patterns either 12 or 24 hr prior to the onset of snow. The contemporaneous association of heavy snow with east coastal secondary cyclogenesis and with certain synoptic features at the 850-mb level is found to be of limited predictive value.