There’s a lot that goes into trying to determine who will get what during a winter storm in New England. Here’s a breakdown of the most important factors.
THE THREE BASIC STORM TRACKS
While there are many facets to winter weather in New England, nearly all storm systems can be boiled down to three basic tracks. The track of a storm system through the region can often play the biggest role in the precipitation type; where in New England it will rain, where it will snow and where the transition zone will set up. The track a storm takes can come down to the position of the polar and subtropical jet streams.
The reason the track is so important comes down to the fact that nearly all (non-tropical) storms have two sides: a warm side and a cool side. Winter storms typically have a warm front that extends in a generally eastward direction from the center of the system and a cold front that trails behind the system, extending generally southward.
Photo byNew England Storm Center
There can also be an occluded front, which basically occurs when a faster moving cold front catches up to a slower moving warm front. Occluded fronts can divide cold air behind a cold front from cool air ahead of a warm front.