New York to Miami will be drenched by East Coast weekend storm

A powerful storm will ride up the East Coast this weekend bringing drenching rain, dampening any hopes for snow ahead of the holiday season.

The system will emerge from the Gulf of Mexico, soaking Miami and South Florida late Friday into Saturday, and then move up the Appalachian Mountains to wring itself out on Washington, New York City and Boston Sunday into Monday, said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center.

“There is no cold air around so it definitely looks like it’s going to be all rain,” Oravec said by telephone. “It’s going to be rain across the south and even as you go further north,” adding that it’s bad news for ski resorts hoping for snow across the Northeast.

The period between Thanksgiving in the US to New Year’s Day tends to be the busiest travel time of the year. There is also extra traffic on land and in the air as many holiday shipments are in transit, so storms like these can cause delays and inconveniences.

Areas up and down the East Coast, including New York, could see 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) or more of rain, with the highest amounts falling in South Florida, where storm totals could reach 4 inches in some places. The warming across the equatorial Pacific, known as El Niño, has helped send the US Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard into a wetter pattern. 

“It’s expected with El Niño and we’re kind of in that pattern,” Oravec said

A hazardous weather outlook has been issued for South Florida and Miami through the weekend, as wind, thunderstorms and crashing surf are also expected, the National Weather Service said. Showers are already breaking out across the area. New York City will see the worst of the rain arrive late Sunday overnight into Monday.