What about the BIG Storm

For days there has been talk of a big storm hitting the Northeast for NewYear's. You might be a little confused by the whole thing, so let's see if Ican clear things up a bit.First of all, it will snow in Ohio and western Pennsylvania overnight, and thesnow will spread to New Jersey and southern New England Thursday. This,however, will not be a big winter event. Enough snow will fall to be a nuisanceto travelers, but that will be the size of it.

The potential for a storm of much greater stature will come from a disturbancecurrently over the Southwest. That system will hurry through the South Thursdayand Thursday night causing nothing more than sprinkles and light snow.

Ultimately, the energy from this system will reach the western Atlantic whereit will mingle with the warmth given off by the Gulf Stream. This will triggerexplosive storm development to the east of New England on Friday. The worst ofthe storm will hit Friday night and during the weekend.

Currently, we believe southern New England will miss the worst of it, and southof there, it won't do much of anything. That means the entire I-95 Corridorfrom New York CIty to Richmond won't get any substantial snow Friday orSaturday.

Up north however, it will be a much different story. Atlantic moisture wrappingover the top of the developing storm will swirl back across northern NewEngland generating a canopy of heavy snow. The heaviest snow, as much as 12 to18 inches is expected in New Hampshire, Maine, southern Quebec and NewBrunswick.

Story By AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.