Winter Storm Niko is going to be a very significant, major winter storm that you must take seriously. If you haven’t heard yet, Wilton Public Schools will be closed Thursday, Feb. 9 due to the storm, so if you can, sleep in and enjoy what is going to be a very snowy day.
The snow will begin early in the morning, around 4 or 5 a.m.. Snow will start out light, but by 7 or 8 a.m., the very heavy snow will move in, and that heavy snow should persist through about noon. Snowfall rates are likely to reach 2-3 inches per hour for several hours.
Because of the extremely heavy snowfall rates, visibilities will drop to near zero and there will be whiteout conditions. The morning will be disastrous for travel, so please, if you can, just stay home if you were planning on going to work.
By the afternoon, the worst of this nor’easter should be over with, but there will still be a few more hours of light-to-moderate snow. The very last snowflakes are expected to end by around 3-4 p.m.. Travel will still not be advised for the afternoon or evening either, because roads will still be a mess.
That’s because of the impressive snowfall totals that I’m forecasting. The weather models throughout the day Wednesday have become more bullish. In fact, all of the models are predicting a foot or more of snow. That seems very reasonable to me, so I’m forecasting 12-16 inches of snow for Wilton. There is a very small chance we get less than 10 inches and an even smaller chance we reach 18, but it can’t be ruled out because there is that potential. The saving grace with this storm is that it will be a quick-moving one. The snow will be falling for the course for only about 12 hours. If we had an all day and all night snowstorm, we could easily exceed two feet! But that will not happen.
For more information and for updates throughout the storm on Thursday, visit Jackson’s Weather online as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
Jackson Dill is a Wilton High School junior who started the website, Jackson’s Weather. His 7-day forecast will appear each Monday on GOOD Morning Wilton. Visit Jackson’s Weather to find out any changes in the forecast. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @JacksonsWeather for around-the-clock updates.