It Might Be Snowing Right Now

As you read this, it might be snowing outside… But it might not be. Weather is ridiculously tricky like that.

According to the National Weather Service, which last updated at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, a winter weather advisory is in effect from 7 a.m. Thursday to 1 p.m. Friday. The heaviest snowfall is expected from Thursday evening to Friday morning.

That is yet another postponement of the nor’easter, originally forecast for Wednesday night, then Thursday morning.

Wondering why there is so much uncertainty with this storm? Fred Campagna of Right Weather had a great post explaining why. For what it’s worth, he’s projecting the coast to get rain – flooding possible – and some portions of South Kingstown to get two to five inches of mushy snow.

The storm’s greatest damage could be the heavy winds anyway though. Sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour are forecasted, with gusts up to 50 miles per hour. Speaking as someone living near Scarborough Beach, this has already come to fruition.

With many trees already weakened in the area from Nemo and Sandy, there is a chance more could come tumbling down, taking power lines with them.

According to National Grid’s online outage map, one poor home in Charlestown near Green Hill Pond is already without power, as of 11:55 p.m. Wednesday. National Grid issued a press release on Wednesday night, and said they have crews at the ready.

As of Wednesday night, no Rhode Island public or private schools had made the decision to cancel or delay school. For updates, check out the website of the Rhode Island Broadcasters Association.

A parking ban is in effect for South Kingstown as of 8 a.m. Thursday. The Providence Journal also reports that there will be no Budweiser deliveries.

Because of the uncertainty involving events today, we will not be running a Five Things column. For anything on our events calendar, you should probably do a “reality check” and call ahead first, to make sure they haven’t cancelled.

We will publish weather updates as needed today, depending on the storm’s severity. Want to be e-mailed when we do new stories on weather issues? Click the “keep me posted!” button below.